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Entropy of humour

The playlets were comical and varied. Sumadhura Kala Niketan's three-day festival of humour enthused packed houses, reports P.S. BHATT

PHOTO: RAJU. V

LAUGH RIOT Pelli Choopulu by Visakhapatnam-based B.S. Chalam Productions was a rib-tickling comedy

How much of fun was cascaded into the dramatics and how much of energy was still available? That might be good academics for critics but the festival of playlets, mime, skits, comedy, film songs and a spread of fun by film artists went well with the audience in cool comforts of Tummalapallavari Kshetrayya Kalakshetram last weekend.

A promising event of this year's show was participation of 75 students from various colleges in a talent search programme, which lasted for five hours at a stretch.

To choose seven playlets from 30-odd scripts, the organizers voted for real stuff of racy wit and deep dig at the loose pits of policing, governance, matrimony, masquerading villains, social afflictions and gruesome gadgets.

To touch on a sample plot structure Leela, a playlet written by B. Devaraj, was spun around the matrimonial web. In search of a bride in the age of Internet, an aspiring but unqualified bridegroom was rejected by the modern and jean clad brides. Though he chanced to click a beautiful and docile girl, she turned to be dumb. Yes, Internet allowed chatting but not the sound bites.

`Terrorist wife'

Most of the comic calibre of Manasa kavvinchake written by B.V. Syam Prasad was well appreciated by the viewers though set on predictable parquets. `Wife was worse than a terrorist' for a senior citizen. To escape from her tyranny, he was persuaded by his relative for a drink with a `paid party'. As they fell unconscious, all the valuables in the house were stolen. N. Gangadhar, who directed the playlet, made a mischievous mess of spirited action.For him, `wife was a landline and fiancée a cellphone'. It was presented by Geetanjali Theatre Arts, Vijayawada.

Prasannaku prema tho an exhibition play by Sankaramanchi Parthasaradhy was presented by Sri Murali Kala Nilayam, Hyderabad. It was hilarious to the end with no let up in wit. Three characters in love with one and the same girl were cornered in funny situations, igniting distrust among them. Reconciling them for a truce was a thief played by T. Sundaram who directed the play. It was hailed as a remarkable production among comedy plays in recent times. It has textual tapestry and germane ridicule to keep the viewers on toes.

Bus Stop, another exhibition playlet by Raavi Kondala Rao was an amusing index of the minds of commuters aground at a bus stop. They located and dislocated themselves between two entertaining pickpockets.

Distracting them was a khadi-clad politician preaching patriotism ever in search of listeners. The bus to arrive was withdrawn and the commuters disappeared. D. George as politician and Ananth as rich pickpocket were impressive. Velu, Radha Kumari, Aditya and other film actors made their appearance felt.

On a fast track

A silver lining of the festivity was listeners' twist with comedy songs from Telugu films, rendered by Harikrishna, Phanindra and Sunanda to a meek but effective orchestra.

A few skits enacted by Visakha Humour Club really deserved applause of the full house. Gopikrishna, N. Prabhakar and others steered the content of joke with alacrity. Gundu Hanumantha Rao led a batch of cine artistes presenting a mix of mime, songs and anecdotes.

In spite of a receptive column of audience, not many took to writing comedies. Perhaps, they were unfamiliar of its chemistry to work with.

Once the plot was mixed, the effervescence was too enormous to be contained by the characters. "There are too many theories of humour than practitioners. Going half-way through the scripts, I am often disappointed", rued M. Ramakrishna, a producer of plays for radio.

"For a comedy play, the events must unfold on the stage on a fast track so that dialogues would sprout, you cannot transplant them. The plot is quilted to open up to keep the viewers engaged. Wonderful if it is supplemented by Quixotic characters", analysed Jenny, an experienced comedian and mime artist. But it is a tall order. It is a big loom for weavers of taffetas.

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