Desicritics Category: Media: Theatre

Play Review: Lucknow 76

Tanay Behera — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:45:24 EDT

Few months back, Dr.BD had made a post on Lucknow, depicting few panoramas of the city sitting in a roof top restaurant relishing gorgeous food.

But why did this topic come into picture, the connecting chord is 'Lucknow', a city that I have never visited but have read about it and also heard lots about from my room-mate who graduated from IIM Lucknow. Last weekend, I was at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, to watch a play titled 'Lucknow 76'.

The plot of the play was based on politics and history, shifting between two time frames of 1876 and 1976 looking at Lucknow city through the eyes of the common man. 1876 was a milestone for the Britishers, as that was the year, when Queen Victoria took over the command from the East India Company. 1976 was also significant in history because during that time, the once proud democracy, India was under the clutches of tin pot dictator, Indira Gandhi who had declared a state of Emergency as the Prime Minister of the nation.

So that reasons out for the numeral '76' in the title of the play.

But then why 'Lucknow' and why not 'Delhi' or 'Bombay' or 'Calcutta' or 'Madras' or 'Bangalore'. Because the director and playwright of the play, Abhishek Majumdar (AM) had spent some part of his childhood in this city. During AM's visits to Lucknow, his grand uncle, a scholar of history and geology had inundated his mind with tales and chronicles about the city from an old bungalow.

Now back to the play and the players on the stage.

The stage was a raised platform, bare minimal in terms of setting. A collage carpet dressed the entire floor. A ziz-zag geometrically-shaped stool, an artistically designed bench on one corner and few cushions were all the props used during the various scenes.

The play began with the entire cast of actors on stage firing words arbitrarily, and this state of confusion continued until two characters working in a press chisel in. Soon an old madam editor of the press enters and they discuss the sabotage of press and free speech during the 1976 emergency.

The sequence of the scenes in the plot follows a pattern like they do in these aerobic classes, one step back and then one step front. So one scene from 1876 and then one from 1976 and the flow continues. You get me right.

A greater part of the play covered, the 1876 era and it was masterly role-played.

The three lead actors for this part were a Muslim revolutionary, a Brahmin Compounder and a brownBritish madam. Now how can a British madam be brown, that's because her father, a Brit and a general on duty in India had married an Indian woman.

As the play moves to Victorian India, fervent and fiery debates rise about nation and ruler royalty neatly animated by the revolutionary and the Compounder. Questions are tossed about one's dedication to one's own motherland, supporting indigenous medicines against propagating Brit medical practices for general welfare, the language in which Vande Mataram was written and likewise. Though the two characters share views that are completely opposite, the Muslim revolutionary considering the very presence of Britishers in their own land a bane, the Hindu Compounder considering it a boon but yet they are the best of friends. These two characters expressed their school of views with downrightness.

The character of the British lady who wants to study India through the eyes of the common man was also commendable. She seeks the help of the Muslim revolutionary to take her on tours to the local bazaars, to the river bed of Gomti, to the sectors where the natives of Lucknow live, and where the street dogs, the cattle and innumerable flies add to the bustle. She is also introduced to mouth watering local food: the Dum Biryani, Sheermal, Zamin Doz, Kakri Kebab, Shami Kebab, etc.

During one of their saunters, the Muslim revolutionary cracks a joke to the Madam, the dialogue piece of which goes like this: 'Madam, you know what, in Lucknow we have more varieties of kebabs than you have Britishers in that small island.'

Few of the dialogues were engaging and just got glued to my mind. 'In a war, its beliefs that fight, not people.' You see the contemporary relevance, it was then, and it is the same, even today and I don't know what will happen in future.

The 1976 half of the play was more of a disjointed and garbled commentary. The unprovoked detention of innocent people, the abuse and torture of detainees in jails, the forced vasectomy of thousands of men under the infamous family planning initiative, the cutting down of electricity supply to publishing houses and the censorship on press were portrayed tactfully. The highlight of the 1976 era depiction was the naxal interaction which was arresting in terms of energizing acting and dialogue delivery. This bit was in Bengali which I feel quite a few in the audience could not understand.

The scenes were as sensitive as was the dark period but to add some easiness in the air, subtle and clever jokes were cracked like 'it's difficult to understand the philosophy of philosophy' (pun on Indira Gandhi's intent for the Emergency) and about the 'Mango tree on the Moon'. (Can someone guess what was actually pointed at here, for the second bit, though I have my own version but not sure if it fits perfectly to the context?)

The lighting was dim for most of the time, mostly because events showcased on stage were from pages of history. A quiet whiskered man, sitting on one corner, strumming his guitar and lending his voice to few evocative songs in Punjabi and Hindi in his countrified voice made the audience travel through the lanes of Lucknow both in 1876 and 1976. The music was a one-man-show, full credits to this gentleman.

Though I am not a connoisseur in the theatrical aspects of sound, lighting, music but still arrangements on the whole for 'Lucknow 76', appealed to me. The only glitch that I could notice, many in the audience had was that many crucial parts of the play were enacted in languages that was not deciphered by all (around 75% of the play was in English and the rest 25% in Malayalam, Hindu, Bengali, Tamil and Kannada).

There were around 12 performers for this play, (sorry, I don't remember their names, and I even lost the play's brochure) and each of them performed splendidly. This play was supported by the Black Coffee Productions in aid of the Concern India Foundation. The director Abhishek is an engineering graduate from NIT Trichy, one of the best technical institutes in India and then an MBA from Delhi University, after which he entered into his professional life in Bangalore. But his heart was in theater, Abhishek won the Charles Wallace Fellowship and went to do a course at the London International School of Performing Arts for a year in 2006. A couple of months back he was awarded the Metro Plus Playwright Award by 'The Hindu'. In a couple of months he is heading to the UK again armed with an Inlaks scholarship.

Bon voyage and wish you all the best.

The Common Man

Tanay Behera — Mon, 7 Apr 2008 10:23:57 EDT

'Whatever I make must be affordable to the common man'. These were the words of Chinni Krishnan who is acknowledged as the father of the sachet revolution in India.

But who is the common man?

Is he the fictitious character which R.K.Laxman, created that has decorated the Times of India's front page even before I was born. A man in his puckered dhoti and a checked shirt, ever silent yet always representative of the hopes, aspirations, troubles, achievements, strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of an average India.

Or

Is he is part of the crowd that is today most sought after by the various engines of India's burgeoning economy. A 'Nano' car for the common man, 'Nokia' mobiles for the common man, 'Simputer', the computer for the common man, 'Air Deccan', the common man's airline, etc.

Or

Is he the one who is today fading in the shadows of anonymity? Someone lost in this world of consumerism and inflation, hunted down by the agents of power and prestige, someone who puts his sweat for his daily bread, but whose voice is on the fringe of decision making circles.

Replies to this simple question: 'Who is the common man?' was the theme of an interactive play, 'The Common Man' by the Yours Truly team, that I attended a couple of days back at Rangashankara in Bangalore.

Before we proceed, let me tell you, why this was tagged as 'interactive' play. The plot of the story would flow for a while and then it stops abruptly in the midway. Then the audience is asked to weave its viewpoints to end the chronicle. Opinions are then stitched to end the story, after which the actors complete the ending as given to them by the audience.

The story begins with the birth of a common man who like you and me attends school, becomes ardent follower of rote learning, graduates from an average college, gets married, has a regular job and runs his family. All these stages are 'ordinary' and 'common' and is very much a part of the social fabric that surrounds us.

In this portrayal of daily life and its interconnected parts, the artists on stage covered a kaleidoscope of events. To cite a few are, the regular neighborhood scuffle, the incursion of mobiles into each and every aspect of our lives, traffic jams, etc. The common man works in an office among some smart IIT-IIM educated graduates, believes hard work and honesty as priceless tenets only to realize one day that the 'Best Employee' award is feted to someone always kowtowing to his boss. The common man witnesses tinges of city life and wants to be a part of that lifestyle, but his meagre pay cheque throttles his inclinations. The dark irrational blocks of thought acting like a corrosive fluid had destroyed the way he looked at life. As time passes by his only child grows, is educated and is married to a girl who prefers to be a part of the apartment culture, rather than stay with the in-laws. In short, the plot swinging between modernity and bumpkinly, clouds the common man in state of confusion.

For someone, part of a herd known for slow cooking and eating leisurely, adjusting to a microwave cookware generation is not easy. The common man finds himself in such a situation.

Life goes on and everything moves on the regular way.

One day while returning from work, something unusual and not so ordinary thing happens. Out of the blues, the common man is selected to appear on a TV interview.

Stop stop stop, the story comes to a sudden halt here.

Will the common man come on TV interview? If yes, why? Will he speak and if he does, what will he speak? This opened a train a questions, the answers to which was provided by a potpourri of views by the audience. An air of camaraderie engulfed the auditorium as comments bounced back and forth among the viewers before tailoring the final plot. It took about twenty minutes to complete this exercise.

The performers were sitting on the stage and listening as the plot was knit. They were back again on action without any rehearsal once the final plot was decided.

The common man attends the TV interview and for the first time in the play, he opens his mouth and speaks out. He becomes a small time celebrity, an unheralded change from his previous image of a common man. Few in the society look upto him with awe, offer him regards and perfunctory politeness. The common man is still the same person as he was, before metamorphosis to his new stature to his family members and a handful of his relatives. Some things change for good, some remain as it was before, but the inner soul of the common man is still in turmoil, in civil war. One fine day, he breaks free from the monotony of life and ventures into a secluded place where he can find peace. Shaky but much better perched, the common man starts writing his autobiography highlighting the traumas, the annoyances, the triumphs, the frictions, etc. A dozen different scenarios all fleshed out in considerable detail.

Then there is a brief silence. The common man cries like a child and says, 'time goes fast and yet it is so dull here and all he wants is to be the same common man and lead his life the common way'.

The play ends.

All these scenes were played on stage with the effective usage of light and gestures, without any props. The only accessories that were used were a few colored dupattas and a bunch of umbrellas. The performers on stage made good use of tingling umbrellas which when used in a bunch symbolized the vexations that crossed the common man’s mind.

The sudden appearance of the common man in a TV interview was a symbolic representation of reality programming that has put the viewers at the heart of a transformation. A transformation that is allowing a few to attain the 'megastar' status, leaving rest others as small time celebrities who are tickled for a short while to be left on their own to struggle later. This was my interpretation.

The team was definitely enjoying while performing on stage as the audience could feel the flow of energy and enthusiasm in a palpable wave. The play was written by Nandini Rao and was directed by Nandini Rao and Ranji. The young cast consisted of Amit Agarwal, Amrutha Varshini, Gaurav Gupta, Karan Shah, Nandini Rao, Pramod Nair, Radhika Mehra, and Sumit Acharya. There was no elaborate settings for music too. The background music was through a keyboard played by Vasanth Mohanraj and few songs that garnished the play were by Gaurav Hombali.

All in all a good performance that all the more made an otherwise ordinary evening stuck in traffic, more pleasant.

Concert Review: Disney's Mickey's Magic Show, Bangalore

Deepti Lamba — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 03:53:44 EST

Disney's Mickey Magic Show at Bangalore would have been a disaster yesterday if had not been for the quick thinking of a Disney organizer. People had bought tickets online and others picked them up from counters at Garuda and Amoeba.

Since the ticketpro site was down, I had to drive all the way to Garuda mall to get tickets for the show on Monday which itself was a pain. Most tickets were sold out, but I managed to get three tickets for us (the show is free for kids under the age of three) and could feel my son's bubbling excitement.

Yesterday evening we were in for a rude shock once we reached the Koromangala Indoor Stadium, the lines to exchange the e-tickets for vouchers were really long. People had been waiting for over 45 minutes. Everyone was grumbling, kids were antsy and the smell of sewage drove us all nuts. It made no sense that there would be such a process when we had printed, certified e-tickets.

The show was about to start and the lines barely moved. Aaman went and spoke to a Disney organizer who too seemed agitated with the Ticketpro and DNA Networks people who were managing the ticketing counters.

To be fair to those guys as well, the e-tickets required some kind of a government stamp, hence the delay but the show had to start on time. The organizer's mind ticked. He told Aaman if people had the stamp of ticketpro they could go in. We had it since we bought the tickets from Ticketpro's booth at the Garuda mall.

We took the lead, and others followed. There was the usual jumble looking for seats, and then within a few minutes the show started. The glitch was taken care of within a matter of minutes which bureaucratic Indian organizers would never have been able to grapple with. The Disney organizer knew the kids' attention span was short, he knew Disney had an image to maintain and the show was so spectacular that most us parents forgave them the initial confusion we went through.

The show is worth the while. The production quality was awesome and though the magic tricks were the classic old fashioned ones but the kids absolutely loved them. Parents were congenial towards each other, no cell phones rang, there were no cameras and I even saw a couple of old couples watch the show.

Its a good thing that the Disney show came to Bangalore. There are many of us who will never get to visit Disneyland, so the much loved Disney characters visited us instead.

Apart from the regular Mickey and his entourage, we met Alice in Wonderland, Princess Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella , Snow White and two goofy guys whose names I couldn't catch over the kiddie squeals and screams.

However one must remember to carry cash. The Disney makeshift store does not accept credit cards and most of us returned to our seats disappointed that we couldn't partake of the goodies of consumerism. Some people grumbled over the prices of treats such as popcorns, ice creams, candies and other things like toys and since they weren't accepting cards, we all ran out of money pretty fast.

Apart from that, I give the show two thumbs up and hope all of you enjoy the show with your tots and make it a day to remember with Mickey, Minne, Goofy, Donald and Daisy.

Movie Review: Khoya Khoya Chand

Aditi Nadkarni — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:15:22 EST

The glamor of films and the mystical lives of the stars when they weren't shining on the silver screen have always been intriguing to me. The current media glare scrutinizing Bollywood leaves nothing to the imagination. The yesteryear's secret affairs, romances and tragedies, however, were hushed, making them seem even more clandestine than they really were. At a time when affairs of the heart were a forbidden fruit, those who boldly bit into it while still in the limelight became the subject of biographies and cinematic gossip history.

In Khoya Khoya Chanda (KKC), writer-director Sudhir Mishra, in his own words, draws inspiration from his years of experience within the Hindi film industry to paint a picture of Bollywood as it was in the late 50s and 60s.

Nikhat (Soha Ali Khan) arrives in the 50s film industry as an ambitious, dreamy eyed side dancer. During the course of the film the audience can never quite fathom whether it is her naivety, her lofty aspirations or her fickle sexuality, that lands her in the cozy, manipulative arms of the established filmstar, Prem Kumar (Rajat Kapoor). This uncertainty about Nikhat's character, I think, adds to her curious character, her enigma. While the actress in her revels in Prem Kumar's attentions, her heart finds an unlikley mate in Zaffar, a pensive, struggling writer who has just begun to make his presence known in Bollywood circles (Shiney Ahuja). This triangle is not the focus of the film but does ultimately provide the flame of chemistry and sensuality under the simmering plot.

Soha Ali Khan, though not the first and most certainly not the best choice to play Nikhat, manages to embody a 50s Hindi film heroine with some minor inadequacies that probably should be credited to a fundamental error in casting. One cannot help but imagine Vidya Balan as the perfect Nikhat. Shiney Ahuja on the other hand, despite his chocolate hero good looks, has consistently managed to steer clear of mediocre roles and in this film owns and delivers the character of Zaffar with complete honesty.

In recent years the character artist has become the director's channel for creative exploration. Directors have begun to use this mouldable persona to reveal what they cannot with the protagonists who are expected to cater to commercial appeal.

Right from Machiavellian "Langda Tyagi" of "Omkara" to the naughty "Bahurupiya" of "Dor", this character lends the audience a multi-dimensional persona to love, hate or identify with. While director, Sudhir Mishra, has never been one to bow down to box office trends, in KKC, he too uses the characters of Shyamol (Vinay Pathak) and Sharda (Sushmita Mukherjee) to add a sense of practicality and old world glamor respectively to the film. Both artists manage to carry off these personas with ease and much flair. Sushmita Mukherjee brings to life a Devika Rani-like character. But the real fire-cracker to watch out for in this film is newcomer, Soniya Jehan, the grand-daughter of none other than Mallika-e-Tarannum, Noor Jehan. Not only is the young debutante as beautiful as her celebrated grandmother but also does justice to the spicy character of Ratanmala, a possesive and temperamental actress.

Sudhir Mishra borrows from some of the poignant love affairs and tragedies of Bollywood's past. Shades from the ill-fated Madhubala-Dillip Kumar love affair and the tragic life of Meena Kumari are used to make up parts of Nikhat's story. Zaffar as the brooding writer turned director reminds one of Guru Dutt's eccentric vision and the long list of commercial flops that it brought inspite of his creative genius. Some parts of the story seem like they could be a slideshow plucked from the lives of any of the big stars of the 50s Hindi filmdom.

The graphics and the authenticity of the sets could have been better but are completely excusable for a low budget film attempting to do something differnt with its unique plot and genre. Sachin Kumar Krishnan's cinematography stays true to the dark plot using shadows and sepia shades to evoke a weighty combination of nostalgia and mystery. Quite interestingly, this film abandons the ariel or pan angle shots that are so characteristic of today's films where a lot has to be crammed into three hours and instead chooses film-noir style low or oblique angle shots and close-ups which were characteristic of those times.

However, it is ultimately Shantanu Moitra's tunes that transport us to a different time. His songs set the scene and the mood for a film facing the challenging task of bringing the past to life. Moitra repeats his "Parineeta" feat by composing rare and original tunes that seem like they belongs to a different period and yet could easily fit into any of today's genres, be it qawwali or a catchy dance number. "Yeh Nigahein" and "Thirak Thirak" are the foot-tapping, dance numbers picturized on a 50s film set. My personal favorite though, was the title song, an off-beat qawwali, "Khoya Khoya Chaand" rendered in the equally off-beat vocals of Swanand Kirkire (of the "Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi" fame).

All in all, this "Lost Moon" is a film that only once in a blue moon, captures an original plot and brings for the classes, the haunting quality of a classic.

Movie Review: Om Shanti Om

Aditi Nadkarni — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:45:25 EST

The film begins with a quick reference to the 70s film Karz where Rishi Kapoor is prancing around the stage looking as adorable as ever, tapping his feet to the memorable notes of "Om Shanti Om". In the cheering crowd is a bell-bottom clad Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan), his eyes brimming with dreams of becoming a superstar in Bollywood.

He is, however, only a junior artiste, living in a small shanty near the studios with his very filmy mother Bela (Kirron Kher). While Om's fun friendship with Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) keeps his spirits high, the highlight of his young life is his love for superstar Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone).

The good-hearted and sentimental Om wins Shantipriya's friendship while rescuing her from a fire on the movie set and thus begins a love-story that somehow trickles into the after-life.

In the first half of the movie, Shah Rukh Khan does as good of a job as his ridiculous costumes would've allowed of playing an awkward, dreamy eyed and even comical junior film artist. Something tells me that not only were the art directors going for a 70s Bollywood look, the sets and gawdy costumes were probably meant for a theatre musical. Shreyas Talpade as Pappu and Shah Rukh Khan compensate for the flawed and utterly humorless script with their comic timing and spontaneity.

Kirron Kher goes back and forth between playing a very filmy mother and trying to salvage a neither-here-nor-there, undeveloped character which teeters dangerously at times towards being annoying. The villain Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal) lacks the sleazy and wicked countenance that would've been fitting for the bad guy of a film showcasing a typical Bollywood masala. That being said, I would rather have Arjun Rampal be a quiet and scheming old man with a pony tail or a painfully thin moustache than a lover boy hopping around in chick flicks.

The first half of the movie has some very funny moments. The parody of South Indian cinema, references from old Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan's naive and unaffected persona made for some very entertaining episodes. Somewhere along the line however the audience is left wondering whether director Farah Khan couldn't make up her mind about whether she wanted to make a Bollywood masala parody, a homage to Bollywood hits of the 70s or an actual contemporary commercial film that would belong to any of today's Hindi cinematic genre. As a result at times during the film when one is laughing, it isn't really at the well-written dialogue or at the humor shown by the characters but more or so at the farsical depiction of 70s Hindi cinema.

The first half unwittingly mocks some of the biggest stars of the yesteryears and while that is minimally funny, on scrutiny seems like a distraction from the film's lack of an original plot.

Debutante Deepika Padukone is undoubtedly the star of Om Shanti Om. Her astonishingly restrained, graceful and confident performance as both Shantipriya the 70s heroine in the first half of the film and her look-alike Sandhya a.k.a Sandy in the second half. While Ms.Padukone bears some resemblance to Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra in terms of looks, her acting skills thankfully puts her several glorious notches above both these contemporary heroines. Very few actresses manage to hold their own amidst the melodramatic performances, theatrical dialogue and crazy dance numbers that define practically all mainstream Bollywood films.

Stealing the show from the flamboyant King Khan also is no ordinary task. Ms.Padukone accomplishes all this with remarkable ease in her very first Bollywood endeavor. It is safe to say that with Deepika Padukone's arrival Bollywood's commercial scene has a new swiftly rising star on the horizon.

The scene where female fans will finally be able to ogle at Shah Rukh Khan's well-toned body and get to see a masculine form flaunted instead of the usual heaving bosoms, is oddly refreshing. His comic timing in this film is vaguely reminiscent of his uninhibited performance in Chamatkar all those years ago.

Shah Rukh Khan's own dazzling success in an industry teeming with starlets is an inspiration to many a struggling Bollywood actor who arrives in tinsel town without a Bolly-baap to usher him in. And hence the periodic cracks about having to be a Kapoor or a Kumar to be successful in Bollywood are apt.

The music is lilting and pleasant and quite a happy distraction when the plot stagnates at times. Particularly meoldious are Ankhon Mein Teri and Agar Main Kahoon. My personal favorite however was the picturisation of Dhoom Tana which uses some very nifty graphics to incorporate actors from the golden years into Deepika Padukone's foot tapping dance sequence. The numerous and noteworthy guest appearances in the catchy title song Deewaangi were very welcome sights and reminded one of the immense talent in the industry and sadly how little scope at times there is that calls for it.

The second half of the movie is dragged to a point where the recurring dialogue Yeh picture abhi khatam nahi hui starts to seem like a malicious jab mocking the worn audience. A masala Bollywood package should not have to compromise on entertainment value just to make the three hour stretch. While the 70s film Karz fit right into the times, Om Shanti Om sorely sticks out for having an obsolete “rebirth” storyline. Also, it is about time Farah Khan demonstrated some directorial prowess instead of letting King Khan deliver the film from flopsville. A quick comparison between the song and dance routines versus actual sequences within the film will reveal that Farah Khan in spite of donning the director's hat is still more of a choreographer than anything else.

A very rich Bollywood history generously allowed plenty of scope for the director to borrow from for this film and while originality is not one of its strongest areas, entertainment most definitely is. In the end, that is probably what tipped the box office in Om Shanti Om's favor.

Book Review: The Prithviwallahs by Shashi Kapoor, Deepa Gahlot

Anuradha Goyal — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:02:53 EST

In my series of biographies, this one is of a different kind, as this is not a biography of a person, but of a movement called Prithvi theatre. It’s a story of three generations and the Prithvi theatre. The first generation dreamed about the theatre, the second one gave a shape to the dream, and the third gave it the wings.

It is a coffee table book written by Shashi Kapoor, who belongs to the second generation and was instrumental in giving shape to the theatre along with his wife. He also happens to be the right person to write this, as he has been a part of both the earlier and the next generation, someone who has seen both the seeds being sown and the wings being spread. Being a coffee table book, there are lots of pictures right from the first play by Prithvi to the last festival held when the book was published. The pictures are all black & white, giving the book itself a very theatrical look and feel.

The story of Prithvi Theatre was born with Prithviraj Kapoor starting the Prithvi Theatres in 1940s, where the troupe traveled across the length and breadth of the country giving 2000+ performances. His extended family was a part of the troupe and those who were not, became his extended family. Theatre was not a commercially viable channel in those days and hence it was usually funded by Prithviraj Kapoor’s earnings from the films. The book talks in detail about the passion that he had for theatre. He believed that his actors and other associates should be treated well, so that they can continue to do theatre. This was the time when films as a medium of entertainment were evolving and after some years it did become a competition for the theatre. Prithviraj gave up theatre in 1962 after he lost his voice and could not act any more. His popularity with his audience was such that they would want to see him even without his voice and that’s how he performed in few of his last performances.

In 1970s, his son Shashi and daughter-in-law Jennifer, who came from the theatrical background and had been associated with Prithvi for long time, decided to create a physical theatre that can be a place to nurture theatre movement and artists in Bombay. There is story of their struggles, which were not only financials but also in defining what the theatre stood for, was it to make profits, was it to promote good theatre, was it to be a platform for nurturing new talent. This phase of theatre ended with Jennifer’s death in 1984. Post which her son Kunal and actor Feroze Khan took reins of the theatre and they took some hard decisions to stick to the original vision with which the foundations of the theatre were laid down. After some time, the responsibility of the theatre came on Sanjana, daughter of Jennifer and Shashi Kapoor.

With Sanjana, the theatre entered the third phase as it also came in the hands of third generation, where it spread its wings and started flying. It became the hub of theatrical activity not only in Bombay but in the country. It became a platform that almost all groups wanted to be part of. Prithvi also went beyond its physical space, and became the cultural hub that everyone looked up to. The opening of Rangashankara in Bangalore is a tribute to Prithvi and probably the first step in the Prithviraj Kapoor’s vision of having a theatre in every small town of India.

The book makes an interesting reading, and quite informative for someone who has not been a part of theatre except being an audience, though it keeps the focus strictly on Prithvi and does not talk about happenings in general about the theatre in India or anywhere else. There are interesting anecdotes that make you realize what about goes behind the success but is never seen. Recommended reading for anyone with remote interest in Theatre in India.

Theatre Preview: Evam's And Now For Something Completely Different

kpowerInfinity — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:19:01 EDT

I had written about Five Point Someone by Evam back in July when they performed in Chowdiah Hall, and they asked me to write a small preview of their next show in Bangalore: And now for something completely different which is adapted from Monty Python. The sub-title goes "The greatest comedy show ever" -- and I can very well imagine that it's going to be funny (from Evam):

This colorful show promises a lot- Meet King Arthur and his trusted servant Patsy who have ridden the length and breadth of the world by banging coconuts! Catch Inspector Tiger trying to solve a crime straight out of Agatha Christie’s novel; Get surprised by Spanish Musketeers; Get tips on how to get through an interview without going bonkers; Enjoy being served by the finest Chinese Mayonnaise cooks in town; Get emotional for the man who bought an ex-parrot; Propose marriage and get accepted-in less than 10 seconds!! And learn how to defend yourself against pointed sticks!

Surreal plots, intelligent yet slapstick-laden humour, gags, idiosyncrasies of British life and a completely whacked out fun evening- a non stop 80 minute entertainer with choreographed set change matching the pace of the humor on stage- Errm..If this is not different then what is!!!

Yumm ... sounds tasty. Considering the fact that they did such a good job with Five Point Someone, I can very well imagine that the execution will give you great exercise for your tummy muscles.

Of course, in theatre, the means are as much fun as the end and luckily, they didn't send me a professionally prepared collage or poster, but rather pictures of the group practicing, pranking, posing. It's a lot more fun watching people rather than actors:

It's being performed at the Chowdiah Hall in Vyalikaval, Bangalore on Sunday, Sept 23 at 3.30 and 7.30 PM. The damage to your wallet would be Rs. 500/250/150 but the lung exercise you would get is probably worth it! To book, visit evam.in or call 99162 14062/98402 22363.

Unfortunately, I would not be able to watch the show myself since I would be traveling, but I am sure you wouldn't want miss it!

More details can be found in this Zip file.

P.S.: Interestingly, I got a lot of people visiting my blog searching for the name of the female lead in Five Point Someone, Uttara Krishnadas who played Neha Cherian. Perhaps, I should mention the name of the actresses in big bold letters to get more hits ;-)

Additional tags: Evam, Monty Python

Interview: Rahul Bajaj - Author, Bollywood Roulette: Inside the Struggle!

Steven Baker — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:28:42 EDT

From an investment banker on Wall Street to a Bollywood actor in Mumbai; Rahul Bajaj is a man of many talents. After achieving success as a leading television actor in India, Bajaj can now add the avatar of writer to his resumé, with the recent launch of his first book Bollywood Roulette: Inside the Struggle!. Over coffee and dhokla at his South Delhi home, Bajaj reflects on struggling actors in the cut-throat world of Hindi film, as well as why the 'Baadshah' of Bollywood is his 'brother'. After publishing such an exposé, the author speculates that nobody in the industry will now offer him a role. Yet, an elated Rahul appears buoyed by news from his publisher, that his debut is already a national bestseller.

Firstly, Bollywood Roulette. An interesting title. How did it come about?

Bollywood Roulette was my title of choice as soon as I had finished writing the climax of the novel. At various points, the editors came up with names they thought would be more commercially viable. But I always felt Bollywood Roulette captured the true essence of my novel and stuck by it. I think outsiders who come to Bollywood to 'struggle' are playing a dangerous game of roulette, and that thought is not foremost in their minds when they begin their pursuits. I wanted that thought, that sense of danger, to be up front. Of course, the game of roulette also features in the narrative, so it made sense in more ways than one.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing the novel?

The editing. I had about 500 pages to begin with and had to whittle it down to about 300 pages. Cutting out 200 pages was very painful! My publishers were very conscious about keeping the novel marketable, and therefore that imposed certain restrictions. The challenge was to shorten the novel without missing out on any of the key messages.

Have you now 'officially retired' from Bollywood?

I think I will never go back to being a professional actor in television/film. I made a conscious choice to give that up. Also, I think after this book nobody will give me a role even if I changed my mind! I do think I will remain connected to the arts in the broad sense of the term. I am not sure what shape that will take. I have many dear friends who are still on the 'inside' so I guess I will remain connected to Bollywood through them at least.

Are the characters in the book based on real 'strugglers' within the industry?

They are very accurate representations of 'strugglers' I have known, but with an important caveat. The caveat is that, again, there may not be a one-to-one correspondence between each character and a real person, but rather the characters are amalgamations. My aim has been to capture the entire spectrum of people that I’ve seen in the 'struggler' category. For that, I have taken the liberty to create characters that are collages, but those collages have very real elements. Each of these characters represents reality.

You have spent time in the US and the UK, do you perceive Bollywood to have made it outside of India?

I think Bollywood is an integral part of the life of South Asians in the diaspora abroad. They cling on to it with the same fervour as they do to religion or cricket or desi food. It’s part of their cultural identity. The overseas market for Bollywood films is driven mostly by the diaspora and it is now pretty substantial. I think for the non-desi audience, Bollywood is just another thing they associate with India - a novelty - like the Taj Mahal or snake charmers. I don’t think Bollywood has really “crossed over” into the mainstream in any real or substantial way. There is complete awareness about Bollywood today even in non-desi circles, but again, it is not much beyond awareness and it certainly does not amount to regular consumption as say Hollywood products are consumed. So yes, the world is aware of Bollywood and curious too.

It would seem that an increasing number of actors from overseas are becoming a part of HiFi. What is your perception of goras in Hindi film?

I think the situation is similar to Indian actors in Hollywood. Just like Indian actors in mainstream Hollywood movies are limited to the role of cab drivers or the occasional computer engineer or immigrant, similarly, goras in mainstream Bollywood are usually limited to the English saahib of period films or the arms supplier/mafiaman villain who gets beaten up by the desi hero at the end. I have not seen any goras running around trees mouthing songs or dancing like Govinda! I guess art reflects the segregated nature of our cultures.

Your book is something of an exposé of the dark underbelly of Bollywood: the casting couch, underworld links, political deals, filmi family dominance. How much of this is based on your experiences within the industry?

The phenomena represented in the book are very much based on my firsthand experiences in Bollywood and those of other close friends and colleagues who have experienced the 'struggle'. The specific incidents, characters, etc. as characterised in the narrative are fictitious or used in a fictitious manner; but the underlying phenomena they are representing and portraying are very, very real.

You trained with celebrated theatre director, and teacher of SRK, Barry John. In your book the drama school 'guru' figure plays an important role in your story. To what extent do you credit Barry John with your success as an actor?

The fictional character of “Guruji” in BR is very much inspired by the teachings of Barry John. I am deeply indebted to Barry John. He took me under his wings at a time when I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted my life to take. He is a real master of the art of acting and I agree with SRK that Barry John is the best acting teacher in the world. Incidentally, it was Barry John who encouraged me to write. I remember we were doing character studies, and I had gone to a sabzi mandi in Delhi to study a character- it was after reading my character study that Barry John almost forced me to consider taking up writing. He also said something which I hold very dearly: 'be artists in the broad sense of the term.' I am trying that.

Your career path begins in a similar way to Shah Rukh Khan. Both from Delhi. Share the same acting teacher. Started out in television. How is it that one participant of Bollywood Roulette trades acting for writing, to then publish a book on the industry; whilst the other seduces Indian Cinema to become 'The King of Bollywood'?

In a gurukul sense, SRK and I are brothers—we share the same guru, or theatrical father—Barry John. Beyond that similar beginning I don’t think I’m even a patch on SRK! Sure I’ve done a few TV serials and I’m from Delhi too, but I have no illusions that we’re even in the same stadium of comparison! SRK is a superstar. I’m still a kid who’s trying to find his feet. I think he did what came naturally to him and I’m doing what comes naturally to me. There has to be no one path. As Barry John would say, 'be artists in the broad sense of the term.' We both are.

You mentioned 26/7. Indeed, the climax of the story is set against the historical backdrop of the 26th July Mumbai floods. Were you personally affected by this event?

I was in Mumbai on 26/7. I was lucky; I got back home before the flooding got out of hand. But yes, I did have to wade through knee-deep waters and remember the two-day power blackout that followed and rationing my food and water in my flat. My most distinct memory of that day is that I remember reading in the papers the day before 26/7 how plans had been drawn up to transform Mumbai into Shanghai—and after 26/7 thinking that Venice would have been a more appropriate model. Many of my friends were stranded away from home that night and had to spend the night in whatever shelter they could find. Psychologically, I think 26/7 was a very important event for everyone in Mumbai. Something snapped that day.

What next for the multi-talented Investment Banker/Actor/Writer that is Rahul Bajaj?

Right now I’m just basking in the warmth that 'Bollywood Roulette: Inside the Struggle!' is generating. I’m very grateful to my readers for the love and affection with which they have received Bollywood Roulette. It gives me immense satisfaction when somebody tells me 'after reading your book, I look at Bollywood and Bollywood products in a very different light. I wonder what those poor souls are actually going through.' Knowing that people are getting a glimpse of the real Bollywood is very gratifying. Let’s see what catches my fancy next!

Book Review : The Other Side of Me, Sidney Sheldon

Kim — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:02:40 EDT

The winner of an Oscar, a Tony, and an Edgar Allan Poe Award, Sidney Sheldon has over 200 television scripts, twenty-five major motion pictures, six Broadway plays, eighteen novels (which have sold over 300 million copies) and one memoir to his credit, ranking him as one of the world's most prolific writers.

The style of this autobiography is uniquely Sheldon and completely engrossing. As he explained in a 1982 interview : "I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down, I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

The book starts with his impoverished childhood during the Great Depression and surprisingly ends before his meteoric rise as a successful novelist.

Born Sidney Schechtel in Chicago in 1917 to German & Russian parents, Sheldon's life had more ups and downs than a month of roller coaster rides. A long time sufferer from manic depression or bipolar disorder as it is now called, he often turned away at critical moments from paths that were just opening up to him.

Success took time coming his way and even when it did, it didn't stay long. (Not until his writing career took off, then there was no looking back) In his words - "Success is an elevator that moves up and down". His ups included having three musical hits playing simultaneously on Broadway, the Oscar and the Screen Writers Guild award for Best Musical for "Annie Get your Gun" The downs included long periods of unemployment and blacklisting by the studios.

There are so many anecdotes about so many famous people that are a pleasure to read. Groucho Marx was an extremely close friend and also Godfather of Sheldon's daughter Mary. Having seen the Hollywood industry as a writer, producer and director his insights are precise and delightful.

My only disappointment was is that I wish he had written a part two before his death on January 30th, this year. He does throw a few morsels about his writing life experiences, but they just aren't enough for his adoring fans.

I highly recommend the book to all Sheldon fans. This is the first autobiography I have ever read which I did not put down even once.

Theater Review: Five Point Someone by Madras Players

kpowerInfinity — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:08:29 EDT

Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore was brimming with youngsters yesterday (Sat, July 21) when Evam presented the Madras Players' production of Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone. The theatre group is based out of Chennai and the book was adapted and directed by Nikhila Kesavan.

At the outset, I must confess that it can never be easy to adapt a book like Five Point Someone to stage, and I was pleasantly surprised. Five Point Someone is the story of Alok Gupta, Ryan Oberoi and Hari Kumar, three freshers who make it to the hallowed Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi, from completely different backgrounds and vastly different takes on life. Alok has a family to look after -- he is the only hope for his paralyzed father, school-teacher mother and a simpering sister. Ryan is ubercool, with parents earning a dollar salary, but indifferent to the needs of their child, and as a result, the son has turned into a cynic, a brilliant cynic. Hari is a rolling stone, and most of the moss he gathers is what Ryan feeds him. The three who become friends right in the first few days of their stay during a ragging incident, decide to take life light, enjoy the 'best' years, and end up as five-pointers, and barely make through the semesters, who are supposed to be scorned at, humiliated in class, and as a result spend most of their time outside of it rather than in it. They however, find time to fight with each other, make up, fall in love, lay inebriated on the institute terrace, get caught stealing question papers, and finally make it out of IIT. The story is well known -- the book having sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but capturing the magic on stage was not an easy task.

It is at this point that one needs to commend the director and the actors. If I said that the audience was in splits, I would be undermining the amount of noise the auditorium generated. The book is in first-person narrative style, and the director stuck to it, introducing the author who was recounting his story as a fellow actor while we saw the actors on stage. The play was full of punch lines -- about how students lived their life at 'Sassies' (the all night eating joint), the inability to understand the female species, the altercations with the professors -- and the audience raised the hall with their claps at each of them. The directory was also able to portray the emotional parts well especially the dichotomy in Alok's mind. The sets were minimalist and most of the action was limited to a single room. The lights were well-handled except for a lapse or two in the entire play, which really commendable since they were used very heavily since the two likenesses of Hari were together on stage a lot of times. I am afraid I didn't much notice the music except for Floyd's 'Brick in the Wall' before the beginning and after the end.

Sarvesh Sridhar as Alok was the pick of the actors. This monologue about being a 'loser' was really well done since at no point the audience felt that it was dragged. Also, little things like always running when he got on stage (and near perfect cueing) made it a treat to watch him perform. Abhijeet Mohanty as Hari was faltering, as the character demanded. However, his movements felt a little too unnatural and forced at times. Praveen Bharatwaj as Ryan was blase, but one hoped to see something more exciting -- and the maverick didn't come out that well. S Vidyuth as the author was detached and the high-point was when after Hari and Neha have sex, and the author comes on stage and blushes! Uttara Krishnadas as Neha handled the romantic scenes quite well (which were well applauded), but the emotional scenes became a little drab. The other professors did their small roles quite well, esp. Shankar Sundaram as Prof. Dubey.

While he play was very well adapted and very well presented, I personally felt that two of the scenes they had left out should have been there -- the initial ragging scene, and the scene where Hari goes to give his Viva having had a few rather large shots of Vodka. Those two scenes would have been superb, and I was silently wishing that they would be there. The little things which as a hostelite I have lived and experienced, and the (perhaps not so much) pressure at another such institute that I have seen, really made it a personal journey.

What I also really appreciated was that the organizers were kind enough to give me (and my friends) tickets to see the show (divine intervention) and one was able to establish a personal rapport with a few members of Evam. And I came back with a bag full of chocolates as a prize for being super-insistent for the tickets! Thanks guys! I wanted to give a tempo shout (a celebration of victory) of my college after the play but sadly my friends were not willing.

A great show -- and I am sure everybody who saw it absolutely loved it -- and went back feeling much lighter and happier. And the intense stomach pain after the play due to all the laughing -- as they say hanste hanste mera pet phat gaya. A must watch!