Balloon Dog is a modern reworking of Rabindranath Tagore’s Kabuliwala, and both stories share the same emotional core. In Kabuliwala, an Afghan fruit seller, Rahmat, befriends Mini, a talkative Bengali girl, and comes to treat her like the daughter he left behind in Kabul. Years later, after he is imprisoned and then released, he returns to find Mini grown up and about to marry, and the story closes on the bittersweet truth that time changes people, but a parent’s love endures.
Similarly, Balloon Dog centres on a migrant from Gujarat who forms a tender bond with a child, only for that relationship to be reshaped by time, separation, and memory. The play updates the setting from colonial Calcutta to contemporary Auckland and transforms the fruit seller into a service-station worker, while preserving the central theme of compassion across cultural differences.
The play is staged by Indian Ink, a New Zealand theatre company founded in 1996 by Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis. Known for inventive, culturally rich productions that blend humour, heart, live music, and strong storytelling, Indian Ink has become one of New Zealand’s most respected theatre companies, touring widely both locally and internationally.
The main cast of Balloon Dog includes Jacob Rajan as Ravi, the grandfather; Alisha Jacob as Sara, the single mother; and Jehangir Homavazir as Kabir, the Gujarati migrant. David Ward is the musician and composer for the production. Mini, the little girl, never appears physically onstage, but her presence is strongly felt through the interactions between the three actors and the unseen child.
Both works focus on a migrant man who is first misunderstood and then gradually revealed as deeply human and paternal. In each story, the relationship with the child forms the emotional centre, and both end on a bittersweet note, with the child grown up and the migrant’s own family remaining far away.
One of the production’s greatest strengths is its emotional clarity. Through humour, music, and choreography, Balloon Dog warms the heart while still carrying real emotional weight. It also draws attention to migrant exploitation, visa dependence, and the strain of starting over in a new place, while exploring belonging, language, labour, and identity. These themes feel especially relevant today, because the hardships faced by migrants remain much the same even 134 years after Kabuliwala was written, in a world still wrestling with migration and multiculturalism.
Like Kabuliwala, Balloon Dog includes a moment of painful recognition when Kabir rushes to see Mini after his release from prison, only to discover that she no longer remembers him. In the play, Mini is also preparing to leave for Sydney with her mother, which adds another layer of separation and loss.
The ending, where a puppet Mini walks toward Kabir and opens her suitcase to reveal the balloon dog he gave her years earlier, is a particularly touching final image.
Production credits:
- Director: Justin Lewis
- Co-Writers: Justin Lewis and Jacob Rajan
- Set Design: John Verryt
- Costume Design: Elizabeth Whiting
- Lighting Design; Production & Tour Manager: Sam Mence
- Puppet Design & Build: Jon Coddington
- Composer: David Ward
- Choreographer: Jude Froude
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