Harry Potter and the fun of ageing heroes

“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children.” Thus reads the gist of the much-awaited play ready to hit West End, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

For a generation that has grown up real-time with Harry Potter, it may be a bit of a jump to suddenly find the boy no longer the star pupil of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but as a government employee — a familiar trajectory for most government employees who are Muggles. But in this play, set to run previews from next week in London, Master Potter will be Mister Potter, no matter how nervous that makes Harry fans.

Set 19 years after J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the production, written and co-directed by Jack Thorne, this is a leap of faith being taken on a favourite and super-successful — how unmagical this word is — franchise.

But the fact that such a Potter-ous leap is being taken says a lot about how people are willing to negotiate with imagination, risky as it may be. Inspired, we here in Hari Puttar-land can consider a film on an all grown-up Amul girl, or an adult Lav-Kush, or even a non-ever-youthful Rahul Gandhi. Wouldn’t it be fun?