Life in a conversation
ROMESH CHANDER
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Aakar Kala Samagam’s “8 Ghante” is worth watching for its sharp comments on our social and political life without being propagandist.
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true to life Suresh Bhardwaj’s play, “8 Ghante” delights the audience.
AKS or Aakar Kala Samagam is a Delhi based theatre group of professional actors whose aim is to present life through a theatrical idiom. In the last six years or so, the group consisting mostly of professional actors trained at the National School
of Drama, Bhartendu Natya Akademi and Shri Ram Centre, have presented eight new plays, six of which are directed by the well known theatre director Suresh Bhardwaj. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Chaman Lal Memorial Award for lighting, Suresh at present is Associate Professor at NSD.
An outstanding characteristic of the group has been that in each of its presentations it has experimented with a different theatrical form, as also the visual language. The group’s latest production, “8 Ghante”, designed and directed by Bhardwaj and presented at Sammukh auditorium, bears ample proof of AKS’s search for a different theatrical form. First, a word about the playwright, Sujit Saraf. The programme brochure tells us that Saraf, who now lives in Polo Alto in California, has in the last 15 years written plays in Hindi and English. “8 Ghante”, “Amaa Vasya” (1997), “Tathaa Kuru” (2003) in Hindi and “Everyone Loves a Good Tsunami” (2005) in English are some of his better known plays. He has also written two novels in English – “The Peacock Throne”, published by Sceptri, and “Limbo”, published by Harper Collins.
“8 Ghante” has an interesting history. The play is said to be inspired by Murray Sachisgal’s “Typist” with a few changes thrown in. It was published in Rang Prasang as “Subha Hoti Hai, Sham Hoti Hai”. Bhardwaj liked it and took it up after introducing some changes while keeping to the original story as told by the playwright.
The play is built around two typists, Batra and Verma, working in an office in New Delhi. As the lights come on the stage, Verma, the new typist, walks in. It is his first day in the office. Enters Batra, the old typist who has been in the company for years , but had no idea that a new hand was joining him. He is curious as to how Verma was appointed; did he have an approach to the boss and so on. As we go along they both grow old while typing addresses on post cards the whole day. They look out of the window on life outside and talk of things that have gone wrong and how life has treated them unfairly. For more than 30 years, these two men have been inventing games that have a bearing on life. They enact short scenes from a play of their own and comment on life and politics of the day. Their comments on social and political life are sharp without being propagandist. There are, however, one or two short references or enactments, like for instance, from the Mahabharata that seemed forced into the text. One hopes that the director has a second look at some of these sequences and edits them before performing the play again.
Well-enacted
The production, by and large, is well-enacted. Romesh Manchanda, a senior actor on the Delhi stage, in Batra’s role, is very good but was irritatingly loud in the opening scene. Anurag Arora, as Verma the new typist, earlier seen in a number of plays in SRC Repertory, has come up very well but needs to relax more in some of the scenes. Bhardwaj as the director was in full command; his subtle directional touches and his intelligent editing turned rather a weak script of “8 Ghante” into a good play. What is more, his lighting, design and simple sets, particularly the window overlooking Connaught Place, was indeed a stroke of genius. The construction of the window and its use to project the story, one is sure, will become a teaching aid for students of stage design and lighting in Bhardwaj’s academic work. Aakar Kala Samagam must keep “8 Ghante” alive and is a must for theatre goers whenever it is on the boards again.
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