Plays that struck a chord
C. SURESH KUMAR
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Despite a couple of off-key performances, the National School of Drama's five-day drama fest was well-received by the audience.
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PLAY TIME While "Taj Mahal Ka Tender' (below) is a satire on red tapism, 'Anamdas Ka Potha' is an amusing story of a young and vibrant sage.
Over the years, the National School of Drama has conceived and staged many a play throughout India. This year, Hyderabad was chosen as the venue for NSD's drama fest. With the support of Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad and Rasaranjani, five Hindi plays were staged from the October 24 to 28 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad.
NSD artistes performed to a packed auditorium on all the days. The organisers were obviously pleased to see Hyderabadis come in large numbers despite the inclement weather to watch the plays. It is surprising why the same patronage is not given to local theatre groups when they perform? Was it the free entry to the shows that attracted large numbers? Perhaps so!
Excellent presentation
The first three plays were very well-presented in all technical aspects with excellent performances from the artistes. In the last two plays, however, the tempo was missing and the artistes looked drained.
The first play Taj Mahal Ka Tender was penned by Ajay Shukla and directed by Chittaranjan Tripathy. It was a satire on red-tapism. The play evolves on an imaginary situation wherein Shahjahan plans to build Taj Mahal in the 21st century and faces bureaucratic hurdles. The play was hilarious and very entertaining, with the audience enjoying every moment of it. Sameep Singh as Shahjahan, Govind Pandey as Guptaji and Vinod Bahadur Rai as Sudhir, stole the show with their performances. Lyrics and music by director Chittaranjan Tripathy were apt. Choreography by Meghna Malik was also good.
The second day's play, Anamdas Ka Potha, was based on a novel written by Hazari Prasad Dwivedi. It is an amusing story of a young and vibrant sage called Raikva whose insatiable appetite for knowledge leads him through many experiences and experiments in his life. From a self-indulgent sage, he gets transformed into a responsible social being and becomes sensitive to the truth of human existence around him. Tikam Joshi as Raikva and Dakhina Sharma as Ritambhara excelled in their performance. Music by B.V. Karanth was tuned so well that it set the mood and tempo for the play. Robin Das, the director of the play, also created the play's settings, costume designs and dramatisation. This play was the best amongst the five-day festival.
Bold attempt
The third day saw Janeman, a play on the lives of eunuchs in our society. The story was an attempt to see them at close quarters, to go deep into their lives, feel their pain and sorrows and also to explore the many hidden layers of their conscience and existence. The make up and costumes were very well done and the credit goes to the well-known Bhanu Athaiya. Dr. Govind Pandey gave an outstanding performance as the head of the eunuch group. Kajal Ghosh composed music and lighting was by Suresh Bharadwaj. The play's concept set, design and direction was by Waman Kendre.
The fourth presentation was Us Cheez Ke En Aamne Saamne, a social play titled written by Mahendra Bhalla. Compared to the last three plays, this presentation was drab. The subject dealt was incompatibility amongst couples. The issues which families face each day in their lives and how only few have the capacity to face the situations is the crux of the play. The play was directed by Devendra Raj Ankur, a well-known theatre personality.
Last act
The concluding day of the NSD festival featured Vijay Tendulkar's famous Marathi play Ghasiram Kotwal, in Hindi. Vasant Dev has translated the original version in Hindi. Ghasiram... is a period play some time around the 18th century when it was Peshwa regime at Pune. The Sutradhar in the play sarcastically describes the highly degenerated and hypocritical conditions of the society during the rule of Peshwa's chieftain Nana Phadnavis. It was a good attempt on the part of NSD and Rajinder Nath, the director of the play to have chosen this presentation. However, the play lost its tempo midway and the main character played by Nana looked tired and strained. Suresh Sarma and Parag Sarma could have done much better in the characters of Nana and Ghasiram. The music was by Dr. Govind Pandey who composed well but there was no clarity amongst some of the artistes while rendering the songs. At many places the harmonium was loud, drowning the voices of the artistes. Rare as such festivals are, the Hyderabad audience really enjoyed the five-day theatre festival. The only irritating factor from the audience was the constant ringing of their mobile phones, on all the days, despite repeated requests from the organisers. The chalta hai attitude of Hyderabadis was clearly on display as they paid no heed to the requests and continued to disturb the artistes and other audience.
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