Tuesday, July 27, 2010

SAARI RAAT – A Review

Venue: Ravindra Bharathi
Date & Time: 22nd July’ 2010, 7:30 PM
Genre: Drama

Duration: 1 Hr 30 Mins
Language: Hindi

CAST & CREW

Director: Sunil Chandurkar
Music: Parag Sathe
Cast: Sowmya Ram, Sunil Chandurkar and Saurabh Gharapurikar

The fourth day of the Hyderabad Theatre & Short Film Festival staged ‘Saari Raat’, a one-act play by Udaan at Ravindra Bharathi, one of the largest and oldest forums for Art & Theatre buffs in Hyderabad. Saari Raat is Pratibha Agarwal’s Hindi translation of the original Bengali Classic by Badal Sircar. Directed by Sunil Chandurkar, the play showcases an impossible incident of an impossible night.

It is pitch dark outside and heavily raining; a young couple seeks shelter in an old creaky mysterious house. Amidst shabby surroundings, strange happenings, echoes and loud laughter, enters an old man who claims to be the owner of the house and allows them to stay over for the night. The old man possesses an uncanny flair of interpreting people’s thoughts and lives. He has his own inscrutable theory surrounding the number ‘Seven’ based on which he explains them the different stages of their life that leaves the couple dumbstruck. “Saari Raat... Raat Saari... Main Jaagta Hoon...” iterates the old man throughout and perplexes the young couple by revealing their personal details with such stark precision that he seems to be able to read their minds.

Unlike the young man who has an average set of expectations & desires from life that any common man would have, the young woman seems to be living in a world of her own. Her thoughts revolve inside the walls of the dream that she has weaved for herself through the years. She comes face-to-face with her innermost desires as flakes of her dream start surfacing during her conversation with the old man. This makes her suspect supernatural presence in the house.

In toto ‘Saari Raat by UDAAN’ can boast of having a brilliant and experienced team of actors. Saurabh, the founder of UDAAN, perfectly fitted into the shoes of a typical loving husband while Sowmya displayed the grey-shades in her character with élan. Actor-Director Sunil Chandurkar was stunning as the sagging eccentric old man. Parag Sathe, who also contributed in vocals, did an amazing job with the background score. His music certainly added the desired punch and a well suited flavor of suspense to enhance the overall feel of the play.

The play for sure succeeds in creating the intended curiosity as the plot seems to oscillate between dream & reality. In the end, it is left to the audience to decide if the occurrences were real or the woman had been dreaming it all.


Signing Off…
Neha Natu Sharma

Monday, July 26, 2010

NITHALLE - A Review

Venue: La Makaan
Date & Time: 4th July’ 2010, 7:30 PM
Genre: Comedy, a Political Satire
Duration: 1 Hr
Language: Hindi

CAST & CREW
Director: Sunil Chandurkar
Script: Dr. Rekha Saxena
Music: Saurabh Gharipurikar
Host: Suhas Barwe
Cast: Ashutosh Patwardhan, Prajakta Phansalkar, Pranav Gharipurikar, Tanvi Deshpande, Mahesh Nule and Kimaya Deshpande

With a pretty looking smallish stage set between rocks and bushes distinctive of the Deccan, ‘La Makaan’ has a very European sounding name for a typical Hyderabadi setting. With the weather cooling down and the sweet aroma of Hot Tea spreading across in the open air auditorium, it did not need a second invitation for the audience to help themselves with a hot cuppa and getting set for the show to begin.


With the auditorium filling up in time, the host & dost of the evening Suhas kicked off the show by welcoming the audiences and providing a quick introduction to the play in question, ‘Nithalle’, an as-is enactment of the script by Dr. Rekha Saxena. Told through the eyes of six protagonists who act as mirrors to the society, ‘Nithalle’ unveils many ‘behind the scenes’ truths of the Indian society and forces the audience to ponder "Kya Saare Jahan se Acchha Hindustan Hamara Hai?". ‘Nithalle’ is an analogy for the typical "Aalasi" man on the street with the "Chalta Hai" attitude whose indifference has brought things to where they stand today.


Addressing each other as “Nithalla” and “Nithalli”, the actors, who took turns to don the hats of the ‘Nithalla’ and ‘Nithalli’, portray the common man in the Indian Society, who is not necessarily a ‘Nithalla’, but is as criminally passive to the happenings around him. “Nithalle” brings to light the harsh realities of the political setup and emphasizes the utter indifference that the common man exhibits towards them.


A special mention for the scene where ‘Nithalle’ beautifully brought out the plethora of criticism and mistrust one has to bear if he/she empathizes with the occurrences around and chooses to make a difference.


It would not be inappropriate to say that the artists were “Ek se Badhkar Ek”. The cast, a team of six plus a cameo by Saurabh, who also played the background score ‘live’ on Tabla and Dafli, did not fail to leave their mark through their performances. The doe-eyed Tanvi expressed extremely well with her eyes. Ashutosh’s “Jaagte Raho…” chant made quite an impact on the audience and would linger in their memories for long. Kimaya could pluck the comic string in the audience so consistently and efficiently that she succeeded in making them laugh at all her dialogues. Prajakta’s experience as an actor showed in the ease with which she performed; a perfect combo of apt expressions & style, while Mahesh’s strength lay in his effective dialogue delivery and strong stage presence. Last but definitely not the least, Pranav charmed the audiences with his lively presence & cute smile.


A brilliant concept; very well directed by Sunil and effectively presented by his team. The apt dialogues, patriotic numbers pertinent to the occasion, and the parodies that were beautifully weaved through the script kept the ‘Entertainment Meter’ running. The unceasing energy of the artists and the powerful throw in their voices in spite of the absence of mikes was commendable. Acting, dancing, singing and instrumentals, the team displayed it all and kept the theatre-lovers glued to their seats. However, the costumes seemed quite upmarket, providing a glaring contrast to the parts they seemed to play. A more rustic setting would have helped.


The show certainly achieved the objective of forcing the audiences to ponder on the supposed greatness of the nation. After a big round of applause for the performance, the audiences departed after interacting with the team and congratulating them for the splendid show.


Hyderabad has witnessed a spurt in theater groups in the last couple of years and UDAAN has been one of the early ones to take flight. Additionally, ‘La Makaan’ is fast becoming the chosen destination for theater lovers in Hyderabad. One only hopes that this is just the beginning.


Signing off…
Neha Natu Sharma