Sunday 17 March 2024

"The sacred bride" - presentation of verses of Janabai, Surdas, St. Theresa of Avila and Rumi performed in Bandra (Mumbai) on 10.3.2024

 Love makes life beautiful but for how long?

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 44 देखिए )


In the forests of Tulasi,
Jani unravels her plaits
Butter in hand,
Chakrapani massages her head

Life is like an acrobat who is moving on a rope balancing himself with a rod having mysticism and existentialism as it's two ends.  Dr. Omkar Bhatkar at SAPP Bandra (Mumbai) was making a point. The natural penchant of soul for mysticism is consistently moderated by existentialism. The progress of life  is inanimate if only determined by the mundane acts of will. The inner longing for reunion with God is the ultimate driving force that draws a man to mysticism. 

Some selected verses of Surdas, Rumi, St. Theresa of Avila and Janabai were presented in an evocative manner by Prasant Nalaskar and Omkar Bhatkar. The poems were first read soulfully by an artist in it's original language say Marathi (in case of Janabai) which was followed by the rendition of it's English translation by the other artist. The rendition of poems touched the sentimental chords of the listeners. The viewers were left awestruck on the signature Sufi dance presented in the end bereft of music and song.

"In the quest for self-transcendence mystics like Janabai (13th Cen), Rumi (12th Cen), St. Theresa of Avila (15th Cen) and Surdas (16th Cen) composed poems of pain and ecstasy. Pain that came from longing and ecstasy that came from union, led to the creation of some of the finest mystical writings. In the journey of merging with the divine, one becomes the lover and the divine becomes the beloved. The poet often becomes the bride and the divine- the bridegroom. Such Poems of love and longing use erotic metaphors to depict the deep yearning for the mystical union.

The Sacred Bride is a collection of poems of four divine brides: Janabai, Rumi, St. Theresa of Avila and Surdas- yearning to meet their beloved to eternally emulsify and become one with the divine. These sacred poems are woven like flowers in a prayerful garland using music and movement to be offered at the altar of Love."

After the poem recital a public conversation was held in which the viewer's queries were answered by the artists.

The people questioned on his way of theatrical progress delivering new plays back to back. He is always up to the next play every next month. Dr. Bhatkar replied that his aim is to deliver more and more theatre and other performance artworks in this short life. There is no greater ambition. The ambition is to be a better human being day by day with the help of learnings achieved in the process of original artworks and reproducing the plays, poems and other art pieces in a new style. He further clarified that he is more inclined to theatre and works of live performance because the direct public interaction of performer is possible only in live mode. Theatre with particular emphasis on spirituality is comfort zone and he wants to excel in it rather than diluting by venturing into cinema or other art.

No camera can capture the performance. Each performance is a new creation notwithstanding the fact it might be based on a fixed written script. The way you present a play, the way you act a character every time and the way you comprehend the poem in each reading is different. 

Performance was made by Omkar Bhatkar and Prasant Nalaskar. It was designed and directed by Dr. Omkar Bhatkar. Technical assistance was provided by mayuresh, Radhika Mhatre, Nipun Pandey and Anosh. Art and aesthetics were by Omkar Bhatkar. 

....
Report by- Hemant Das 'Him'
See the reviews of other plays- Click here
Send your feedback to- hemantdas2001@gmail.com/  editorbejodindia@gmail.com








Friday 8 March 2024

Ghalib- Marathi play staged in Panvel (Navi Mumbai) on 18.2.2024

First a father then anything else

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 43 देखिए )


This 'Ghalib' Marathi play is not about famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib rather it is a huge testimony of a writer's domestic dilemma. 

It is always a big challenge for a writer to strike a balance between his worshipping muse and running family. Even though he is a award-winner celebrity writer his material wealth is not enough to satisfy the needs of his two progenies. 

Manav Kirloskar is such a celebrity who has won several awards. After his death one of his two daughters wants to sell off the parental house and shift to Mumbai in a modest accommodation. The younger sister resists. Though (perhaps) the father has given the authority to the elder daughter to do so. On this matter both sisters are at loggerheads with each other. In the meanwhile Angad, an ex-student of the father comes to their house with an intention to search the last unpublished book of his teacher Prof Kirloskar. As the named book is very important for the literary community both sisters allow him to stay there for a few days and search the manuscript. Some sweet feelings generates in the mind of the younger sister for Angad. 

On the other side, Angad who himself has till date carved out a niche for himself in novel writing, is very honest about his mission. And ultimately he succeeds in finding the manuscript of 'Ghalib'. He conveys to the daughters that this is such a timeless analytical creation about Ghalib which can take the lettered society by storm. It was inherent that the royalty flowing out of it can be sumptuous and persistent. Now the younger sister claims that this manuscript is written by her and not by her father. Here lies raison d'etre of the play.

How it can be determined that the younger sister is the real author of the book even though it is proved that the manuscript is in her handwriting? Along with the prestige issue it raises a legal poser too as to who is the rightful owner of this historic creation. A very very difficult question as the renowned writer Prof. Kirloskar is no more. After many twists and turns this riddle is solved in an authentic manner and the viewers come across the other face of the renowned writer where he is just a father a pure father and not a writer any more. People should go to the theatre to know how actually the mystery of writership is solved.

It again was mainly a writer's play who was Chinmay Mandlekar. He also directed the play. Artists who gave their best delivery of acting were Gautami Deshpande., Ashwani Joshi, Virajas Kulkarni, Gururaj Avadhani.

A marvellous play watched recently by me which is a tight bag of morals and mystery.
...

Review by- hemant Das ' Him'
Send your feedback to- hemantdas2001@gmail.com/ editorbejodindia@gmail.com
See the reviews of other plays- Click here



Sunday 3 March 2024

विरोध को कहाँ तक सहा जाए?

(सामयिक विचार)


सत्ता के विरोध में कुछ बोलने का यह अर्थ कदापि नहीं है कि वह विपक्ष के प्रति समर्थन है. इसकी ज्यादा संभावना है कि जो आज विपक्ष में है अगर वह सत्ता में आ जाए तो आज के सारे विवेकशील विरोधी जन उस समय की सत्ता के भी विरोध में ही बोलेंगे. इसका ज्वलंत उदाहरण यह है कि अनेक पत्रकार/ साहित्यकार/ कलाकार जो पहले कांग्रेसी सत्ता के विरोधी थे वो आज की सत्ता के भी विरोधी बने हुए हैं. कारण यह है कि गलतियाँ उन्हीं से होती हैं जो काम करते हैं और काम करने का अधिकार सत्ता पक्ष को ही होता है विपक्ष को नहीं. काम करने का अधिकार जिनको प्राप्त है उन पर ही यह आरोप लग सकता है कि उन्होंने काम नहीं किया अथवा सही ढंग से नहीं किया. जिसको काम करने का अधिकार ही नहीं है उस पर कैसे यह आरोप लगेगा? अब काम करनेवाले यानी निर्णय लेनेवाले को हमेशा यह दुविधा रहती है कि वे जो भी निर्णय लेंगे उससे कुछ लोग लाभान्वित होंगे और कुछ के विपरीत जाएगा उनका निर्णय जो कि बिलकुल स्वाभाविक है. यहीं पर निर्णयकर्ता का विवेक काम आता है कि वे जो निर्णय लें वो इतने न्यायसंगत हों कि उनका विरोध कम-से-कम हो. फिर भी अगर कुछ लोग विरोध करें तो उनकी बातों को सहानुभूतिपूर्वक सुनकर कुछ उनको समझाकर और कुछ मामलों में यदि उचित लगे तो रियायत देकर उसका समाधान करना चाहिए. दंडात्मक कार्रवाई उन्हीं पर होनी चाहिए जो हिंसक अथवा असामाजिक तरीकों का सहारा ले रहे हों उन पर नहीं जो शांतिपूर्ण ढंग से विरोध कर रहे हों. इसका पालन करने से ही सत्ता में मजबूती और दीर्घजीविता आती है एवं समाज, कला और संस्कृति के शिखर पर पहुँच पाता है. कला के उन्नयन के लिए विचारों का निर्बाध प्रवाह आवश्यक होता है.
--
लेखक- हेमन्त दास ‘हिम’ / hemantdas2001@gmail.com
दिनांक- 03.03.2024

Saturday 17 February 2024

"Ishq-Mushk" Hindi/English play staged in Andheri (Mumbai) on 10.02.2024

 Love beyond boundaries 

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 42 देखिए )



'Ishq' or love is like a musk which knows no bounds. It would go beyond any boundary of caste, creed, nationality, age or gender. This play specially focuses on some special kinds of love which are almost taboo in a human society. No doubt that the world will become a perfect chaos without the most prevalent epic kind of monogamous man-woman love typically reflected in marriage all over the world. Having said it, we cannot deny that God has not stopped here and He Himself has created such creatures like LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and others who doe not belong to the most prevalent sexual creed). Keeping those people in view and to free them from a feeling of guilt this play presents anecdotes in a piecemeal manner.

Elucidating the contents of the play will be like a replication of contents available on sex websites. Let us talk about the method, purpose and theatrical aspects of the play. 

There was a graceful female anchor we talked to each of the different people who have undergone or have faced unusual kind of sexual aberrations in their past life. She receives call from all of them and facilitate her or him to present how and what happened to them. This included a tomboy case, a divorcee sex-thirsty woman case, a gay case and others. Here it is noticeable that each of them is not voluntarily spoilt for choice rather all of them have succumbed to the circumstances. The tomboy girl categorically says that she was well aware of her sexual aberration so she tried her best to conform to the views of her parents to effeminate herself but every time her internal voice thwarted it. Similarly, in the case of the divorcee woman who had been living apart from her life-partner since last fourteen years it was but natural that even a mason like sturdy man can be her choice for temporal fulfilment. 

With a high degree of grit and compassion, the anchor was listening to the so-called pervert persons. Each of her dialogues and actions was not of a participator but of a facilitator till the last episode when she too presented her own anecdote.

As I already said, this play was primarily a script-narration play with full facial expression and limited body movement. Even in their constrained space all the characters were looking like in their separate world thanks to the pragmatic set-design. The masculine attire of a girl engrossed in electric circuits  and the revealing "saree palloo" of a drowsy eye woman on a cosy sofa convey half of the story. 

What I found was that the play mainly hinged upon the corporal aspect of love and did not dig into the metaphysical space too much. That is why platonic love remained untouched. Perhaps they were bound to display the whole gamut of sexual aberrations so there might have been time constraint. By design, the director had faced less challenges in this play and the actors were their own masters to a large extent, I think. There was certainly a oomph in the divorcee woman actor. The bubbly chirpy college girl was full of zeal and energy, the mannish girl was genuine in presenting her case and the man to man lover was also puzzled to a desired level. 

Sulagana Chatterjee's script was the skeleton of the play on which fleshes were added by the actors through their voice and body movements.   The actors were Anjum Khan, Pooja Bhamrrah, Priyanka Charan, Sameeha Sabnis, Sidhant Seth, Surya Mittal and Tushant Mattas. The writer has taken care of the prevalent laws and that is why no character in this play is doing an act which may be put by you as a crime. As far as I noticed, everything was consensual. Those acts may be immoral on traditional grounds but were not illegal or such acts which might lead to undue harm to others.

The play was successful in delivering the message and keeping the viewers engaged throughout the play the duration of which was much more than the previously declared fifty minutes. 
.......

Review by- Hemant Das 'Him'
Send feedback to - hemantdas2001@gmail.com / editorbejodindia@gmail.com
See the reviews of other plays- Click here














Saturday 10 February 2024

"The Chattaans"- English/ Hindi play staged in Andheri (Mumbai) on 04.02.2016

 The inundated globe

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 41  देखिए )


This seemed an improvised play which might have emerged as a natural product of training process. The play raised an issue of global warming and proceeded with various metaphors and allegories. You may get a sense of unwritten documentary reshaped as a thespian outreach. In the outset there are some acting trainees and a teacher. There comes a devastating flood in Mumbai and contemplating the plight of his village an actor goes to his house. He finds that his house is inundated and his wife and children are facing a lot of troubles. I am still to find a coherence in fire sequence in the initial story (or no-story). Though there was a glut of grammatically correct dialogues in the play but the only sentence remained in my remembrance is something like that .."if proper steps are not taken then there is 100% probability that after 2030 Mumbai will face the same devastating flood every year and in 2050 all the big cities near seas around the world will be inundated." 

See, I appreciate the efforts of neophytes and the way they were allowed to showcase their acting skills. There is certainly no doubt that the training is on a robust path and the trainees are also full of capabilities. But the subject they addressed is a very very serious one and it directly relates to the existence of global human habitation across the world. May be hundreds of crores of people will face harsh consequences of negligent global leaders of now. The oblivious global leaders of the world may be from US, UK, Russia, China or any country they must heed to the environmental factor and redress the global warming issue otherwise none of them is worthy to be called a global leader.

The director of the play was Shiv Tandan. He is also a co-author with Vidyut Gargi. The actors were Abhimanyu Gupta, Chrisann Prereira, Geetanshu R Lamba, Dusha, Sayan Sarkar, Twinkle Kapoor, Vaibhav Kapatia

Though the output was still in a development process so I need not comment on it but the subject they chose definitely deserve a pat on the back. In my view as the play was a product of trainees the price of ticket should have been less than Rs.500/-.
.....
Review by- Hemant Das 'Him'
Send your feedback to- hemantdas2001@gmail.com / editorbejodindia@gmail.com
See the reviews of other plays- Click here

 


'Astitwa' -Marathi play staged in Panvel (Navi Mumbai) on 28.1.2024

House is my soul-mate

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 40  देखिए )


Pangs of separation are very sharp no matter the departing one is living or lifeless entity. The house where one lives is not just a matter of bricks and mortars! In reality, It keeps a separate identity in a person's mind as a nearest companion, a biggest comrade and a dear-most friend. 

An inevitable predicament with the middle class salaried person is that he has to retire some day. And if he belongs to the lower most tier of the hierarchy then the biggest issue is where to go after vacating the government residential quarter. The retiring man in this play has a wife, sons and daughter. Nobody wants to leave Mumbai but the headman is thinking about settling in his ancestral place. The whole play is a cobweb of conditions arising out of this very situation.  

Even after remarkable performance of the actors Bharat Yadav, Jayraj Nayar, Chinmayee Sumeet, Saloni Surve, Hardik Jadav and Swapnil Jadav the play looked like a documentary. You may say the play was so realistic that it was a drama without dramatics. Swapnil Jadav as a Director was succeeded but perhaps as a playwright he should have put a most robust story-line which could have acted as a glue factor for keeping the audience tied with the play. 
...
Review by- Hemant Das 'Him'
Send your feedback to- hemantdas2001@gmail.com / editorbejodindia@gmail.com
See the reviews of other plays- Click here

Saturday 27 January 2024

"Laal no Raaja Chokat Ni Rani"- Gujarati play staged at Tejpal Auditorium (Mumbai) on 7.1.2024

 A second bite on the cherry

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 39  देखिए )


Getting a second bite on the cherry is not so savoury!

There might have been a fierce love between a couple in their youth days but can it translate in the same way after passage of 45 years. See, there is no roadblock, no legal or social hindrances in the given context but there are still numerous issues impeding the rejuvenation of the earlier love vines. 

A conjugal love is not merely a carnal phenomenon. It is something that enters deep roots of contiguous understanding and interpersonal identification. After passage of certain number of years it's more a function of soul than of a body. You may dislike your life partner for innumerable reasons still you can't get rid of him/ her in your mind space.

Aeons ago, there were two dashing dudes each of whom befriended a damsel. Each pair matched to other in splendour. The romance blossomed to the peak though those could not materialise to marry thanks to some petty ego issues. Now by the sheer pick of destiny when they all meet after four decades green vines of lost love again peps out. Actually, it had so happened that though earlier, the two pairs could not make a nuptial bond but the girl of one pair had became the wife of other pair's beau and vice versa. 

Now one's husband is dead and another's divorced. The beau (now an old man) conveys the widow that he could never forget her love and that this was the main reason that led to the divorce  with his wife. But now as he is free from his wife, he is curious to again carry on his earlier love and marry his muse of youth era. The charming widow gives nod and says she also could not forget him and this had created a lot of trouble in her marital life. Now, a wholehearted effort is put in to make the earlier bond functional. There is also a pair of boy and girl of this age who come to know about it and helps in the effort of elders by shooting a video movie with them making them the main actors of their movie. A litmus test of love is also carried on by putting some narcotic drug in the drawer which is thoroughly investigated by the police. 

For knowing more, you should go to the theatre.

Nilesh Rupapara (died in Dec'23 as per the info available on internet)  is the writer of the play directed by Vipul Vithalani. Undoubtedly this play is basically a scriptwriter's craft which is an excellent  intertwining of entertainment and theme.  Gayatri Rawal, Yatin Parmar and Mona Mokha lived the characters in the play. The gait and manners of the main beau in this play lives you enamoured. Surprisingly he succeeded in carrying with all the tantrums in the same manner in his elderly avatar. His love lady looks as gorgeous even in her sexagenarian adaptation. The second pair also impressed  the viewers the same way in their youth episode and the lady of that delivered an impressive serious show in the second term too. 

Music and dance utlising all-time popular Hindi numbers made a blast. Set-design was beautiful and pragmatic. It was because of the marvelous set-design that also used the significant bites of video play  in the background. It was because of this implement that the scenes of sea-shore with mild tides could be delivered on stage.

Viewing the play was a highly pleasant experience mixed with refurbishing of enlightenment on family ties.

......
Review by- Hemant Das 'Him'
Send your feedback to- hemantdas2001@gmail.com / editorbejodindia@gmail.com
See the reviews of other plays- Click here