Craftsman performed the Hindi play "Sone ki chidiya" in Mumbai (Versova) on 21.8.2022

 Love-story of thieves 

"How was the taste of the mutton yesterday?" 

"So yummy!"

"O yeh! The persons staying in your adjacent room had also not paid the room rent for last three days  and we were able to provide you the meat ..."

"Kindly tell me how many kilograms you people weigh to that we may add that much of meat in our menu for the next day"

And everybody was rolling on the floor laughing.

Though the Azadpur village of this play is totally aloof from any of the grand democratic countries, it had not succeeded in saving itself from the most rampant feature of 'azadi' that is corruption. The whole lot of working class living in the precincts is fully immersed in corruption. Here "under the table" system rules the roost. All of the policemen, journalists, judges, doctors and businessmen are deeply involved in corruption.

Everyone gets very scared by the news that some  from a grand democratic country are scheduled to visit to their village. They know very well that politicians who have higher corruption capability can pose big problems to them. Now the question arises who will bell the cat. After a lot of deliberation it is decided that a journalist and a businessman can be sent to negotiate with the incumbent political leaders who were staying in a hotel. When these two men go to the hotel they think the two thieves as the politicians and try to gratify them by any means. Someone let his wife and other let his daughter meet these thieves.  The thieves enjoy the flirts of young women. Ultimately it is open that the two merry-making two men are just thieves and not politicians. And then what happens can best be learnt while watching the play.

The Hindi adaptation by Nirmal Roy is excellent and you can hardly guess that it is just an adaptation of a play by a foreign writer. The director Majee Ashok has put it on the stage deftly. All the actors were young but were able to show their mettle. One of the thieves who was trying to hide his face from the havildar who with his "aapko pahle bhi dekha hai kahin" dialogue had been troubling him consistently each time he came across. That thief gave superb delivery in terms of facial expressions and dialogues.  His girlfriend also charmed everyone with her flirts. The other theif also did justice with his role but the scene in which he is genuinely trying to save his (manly) modesty was superb. And there was her girlfriend who was adamant with her coquetry to outrage the modesty of the man in an all-out approach. She put it well.  The dancer man with lady's garments stunned everyone with his springiness in body but also with the presentation of feminine finicality in the body-movements. The bearded men in Muslim attire also gave a fantastic performance. All other male and female actors did justice to their characters. The names of the actors were Abhishek, Akhilesh, Aman, Ansh, Arpita, Bhavesh, Deepak, Jayam, Nisha, Pankaj, Vikash and Vinay.

So, it was really a meaningful and interesting performance.
......

Review by- Hemant Das 'Him'
Send your response to- hemantdas2001@gmail.com OR editorbejodindia@gmail.com

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