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Marital mirth Samir Soni and Mandira Bedi carry it off with aplomb

Well, Mandira Bedi-Samir Soni made it with aplomb. Raell Padamsee’s Anything but love staged on Sunday was a rare treat to theatre buffs. Only how much of the ‘revealing,’ explicit dialogues got down with the still ‘protective’ conservative Hyderabadis is a moot question. In a nutshell, the six-act plus play directed by Vikrant Pawar was a rip-roaring comedy, evoking spontaneous laughter with every second dialogue. Raw conversation on sex and marital ‘irritants’ was also dealt with a suave approach.

Coming to the actors - well anyone who have pre-conceived notions of Mandira Bedi will ‘reform’ their opinion. She comes across as a superb, natural actor handling hilarious situations tinged with emotionality and romance with élan.

Samir Soni is no less. At ease with himself and his co-actor, he carries the play with dexterity. The finesse with which the bedroom scenes-mind you live- were shown on stage- were like a walk on the razor’s edge.

To say ‘it’ in no uncertain terms, to look at the issue in the eye and yet to stop short of vulgarity. Not that our audience thought so going by the conspicuous absence of wild laughter which was the expected right response.

The story is hardly anything to narrate. A couple-the only two on stage- divorced after five years of ‘not –so-blissful’ marital life run to their respective psycho counsellors, meet up with each other at the ‘wrong’ places, convince each other about their ‘alternative’ choice of partners and finally decide to give their ‘separated marital status’ a try.

The love that underlies their relationship is hardly given a chance to raise its lovely head and if it did in moments of ‘softness’ and ‘weakness’ it is quelled with arguments, analysis and apprehensions. Despite such odds, it’s for the couple in love to come together, live together.

As Samir Soni says, ‘getting a life partner is like acquiring a cellphone connection with so many service-providers offering a host of features. Well when you settle down with one-in the first three months –the going is near perfect-then comes the network problem, the over-billing, the short-comings, etc. etc. You want to change your network or stay put with the existing one…..” a brilliant simile shall we say.

Kudos to Sanskruti Shikhar the host for its noble cause and for the delicious two-hour treat.

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