Eighty years young and how!
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"Mallaika.Sherraffat@oldagehome.com" teaches without preaching
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"My aim has never been to show perfection, it has been participation," says director Sarita Vohra. Good intentions were evident at "Mallaika.Sherraffat@oldagehome.com", staged recently at the India Habitat Centre. Presented by HelpAge India, the play is a musical comedy on being old.
The name of the play serves its purpose of attraction. Writer and director Vohra explains the reasons. "I was at a lunch party for octogenarians, and it was the dullest party ever. The only conversations were on pacemakers and dentures. I suddenly decided to ask the host, "So, Uncle, how is Mallika Sherawat?"... And the whole mood changed." This small incident convinced her that the small, mundane things of life could often solve the big problems.
Set in "Jolly da Ghosla", a recently opened old age home, it is a comedy with the underlying message, `be sensitive to the elderly'.
The play, though, doesn't take itself seriously. The home is provided with 10 suites. The inhabitants are a motley crowd from a retired General to a poetic ustad to a Bharatanatyam dancer. It runs on the premise, "Bachpan aur budhapa mein zyaada fark nahin (there isn't much difference in childhood and old age), everyone needs a pastime."
They might complain of pains, but they are happy and busy. They play, they dance, they sing. They even enjoy the occasional Bloody Mary.
However, the setting up of this arcadia is at the expense of the plot. More than half the play is spent re-creating their antics. With a dozen-odd actors on stage, their characters are incompletely fleshed out. The song and dance routines are enjoyable without furthering the plot.
Late entry
The play grabs attention when the children of the owners enter. Obviously of villainous intent, they try to evict their parents with the help of corrupt officials. The other inhabitants now reveal their own stories of betrayal. The play weaves in concerns of elders through offhand conversations. Issues of loneliness, alienation are articulated if not addressed. Vohra reveals that some scenes were inspired by true life. In her own neighbourhood she has seen property snatched away from parents by children.
The play ends happily. But the reformation of the children through "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" is too simplistic!
This is Vohra's second play for HelpAge, the first one was "75, Not Out". She hopes to be able to take the play to homes. The cast comprises an array of professionals in the media, academia etc., few of whom have dabbled in theatre and film previously.
NANDINI NAIR
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