"You must die"- Marathi play staged in Thane (Maharashtra) on 16.9.2023

Anyone could have but who did it?

( हिंदी में समीक्षा के लिए -   यहाँ क्लिक करके क्रम सं. 33  देखिए )

There is enough 'masala' that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Each character is possessing some distinctive characteristics of a murderer. Even though the matters go unfolding with passage of each scene you remain absolutely clueless till the very end of the play. Even though there is a perfect set-up seen walking behind the murder you can't quite put your finger on someone. 

Each character is a fit person to be suspected. There is a fresh murder and so many are in the family who you may doubt. As the shot down wheel-chaired man was paraplegic and ill-mannered, why not his attractive young wife might have conspired? Why not the cunning looking caregiver could have taken the life of his master if he could not succeed in blackmailing the family? Why not the widow step-mother might have committed the crime for huge insurance money? There is enough chance that the mentally retarded gun-loving younger brother would have done this actual murder as part of his game. His caregiver Julie is also potential of cherishing ulterior motives. The stranger who intruded with an SOS request and took charge of the situation as a savior of the survivors looks like an easy target to be suspected. And in the climax, one more murder is committed to the person who is the main culprit of the earlier murder.

So, who fired upon Anurag, the first victim? Go and watch in the theatre.

The police inspector and his assistant did marvelous job. The interaction between the dominant and subordinate officials was wonderful. Whereas the Inspector was seen always looking to some material to find a clue his assistant was always up to delineating every bit of findings into his register. 

The caregiver of the murdered man looked cunning with the countenance and body-language at every other second. The responses of the step-mother through her dialogues were colliding with her facial expressions putting her more in the mess of suspicion. The wife of the murdered man looked impudent enough masquerading with her licentious lover. The surprising fact was that she herself was clueless who murdered her husband. She was taking the blame perhaps just to save her lover. And in seclusion, when the wife's lover also expressed the ignorance about the culprit, the viewers were left completely nonplussed. The stranger and the lover did justice with the characters.

The retarded brother acted well when he was seen hopping around with his toy gun. But in the later part, his gun was not toy and a real one giving goosebumps to everyone. Julie in her sensible caregiver role acted well especially in the scene when her protegee is flirting with the real gun and she was trying to control her with her cajoling tact. 

The artists who embodied the different characters were Saurabh Gokhale, Sharvari Lohkare, Sandesh Jadhav, Vineeta Date, Neha Kulkarni, Ajinkya Bhosale, Pramod Kadam, Dhanesh Potdar, Harshal Mhamunkar. 

The play is written by Neeraj Shirwaikar and the director was Vijay Kenkade. Ashok Patki was the musician and lighting design was by Sheetal Talpade. Costumes were by Mangal Kenkare and Stage design was by Rajesh Parab. 

The playwright has set his script in a typical movie style but has carried up the plot justifiably till the very end. Vijay Kenkare is a virtuoso of suspense thriller and has again done it with consummate aplomb.

The duo of the Director and Playwright of this play has proved their amazing capability of keeping the viewers all agog from the first to the last scene notwithstanding the plot might be moving on a hackneyed track. I was satisfied with the thrills I got.

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Review by- hemant Das 'Him'
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