Category Archives: Play Review

Swati Chitnis, Sanjay Mone
Play Review

Gajendra Ahire impresses with his play ‘Shevgyachya Shenga’

Aside

Gajendra Ahire began his career as a playwright 20 years ago, with Marathi play ‘Aaicha Ghar Unhacha’ which brought the ‘best actress’ award for Neena Kulkarni, for her role in this play. Later, he was associated with three more Marathi plays as a writer. Today, Gajendra Ahire is a reputed writer director of Marathi films, having made about 40 Marathi films, during the past 12 years. But, through his latest Marathi play, ‘Shevgyachya Shenga’ Gajendra has made a comeback to Marathi theatre. And, he has certainly impressed as a writer & director, through this play.

Swati Chitnis, Sanjay Mone
‘Shevgyachya Shenga’ produced by Lata Narvekar, presents a sensible story revolving around different characters, representing three generations. Each one of them, have something to convey, sometimes emotionally; but through humour filled dialogues, which is the biggest plus point of this drama. The only drawback noticed was, frequent breaks, each lasting about 10 to 15 seconds ,taken to change the set arrangements. There is no doubt that they were the demand of the script, with shift from one scene to other; however, this has not been the practice on Marathi stage, in the recent times. But, the beautiful set designs by Nitin Nerurkar and wonderful lighting used by Shital Talpade makes you ignore the breaks.

As the play begins, we find two senior citizens , Ms. Sathe ( Swati Chitnis) and Mr. Sudhir Sasane ( Sanjay Mone) both living a lonely life in the same colony. Ms. Sathe lives in a huge bungalow with a young beautiful paying guest Vinaya ( Kadambari kadam)who hails from Kolkata. While, Mr. Sasane lives on the third floor of an adjacent building. Initially, not getting along well with each other, both of them (having lost their respective spouses), later become good friends. There is another middle aged lady, Aarti Tai( Atisha Naik) living in their neighborhood, who has her own story of separation from her husband. But, she shares all her thoughts with young Vinaya, who is close to her.

Vinaya who is MBA and looking for a job, is more keen on pursuing a career in Photography. She has a boyfriend Rahul (Nikhil Raut), who is very ambitious of starting his own business. As the drama progresses with humour filled happenings in the lives of all these important characters, we find the arrival of Ms. Sathe’s only son living in US, to take his mother along with him to US. Almost at the same time, we see Mr. Sasane’s only married daughter coming from Delhi, to meet her father. It is at this stage, we see lots of happenings in their lives, with few twists and turns; towards the climax.

Gajendra Ahire, as a writer has tried to make every scene interesting, with humor filled dialogues. Most of them have come to the share of versatile actor Sanjay Mone, who with his extraordinary skills, made very good use of delivering them in his different style. Young actors can learn a lot, from this actor, about the body language and his style of delivering the dialogues, suited to character’s requirement. No wonder, he is also a good director himself. Good support comes from veteran actress Swati Chitnis, who has proved, that she has still lot to offer in acting. Aatisha Naik has a totally different role and she seemed to have enjoyed, playing that character, with her total involvement.

Among the youngsters, both kadambari kadam and Nikhil Raut were at their best and perfectly suited in their respective characters. Kadambari finds additional responsibility of playing a narrator, in between, during shift of scenes, at important stages. Nikhil Raut has been used in double role or rather double part, playing two different characters, those of Rahul the boyfriend of of Vinaya and Ranjan the US returned son of Ms. Sathe. Another actress Seema Parkar, has also been cleverly used by director Gajendra Ahire, to play three different characters, namely, the vegetable vendor, Mr. Sasane’s daughter and Rahul’s business consultant. What is important, that all together, they made a very good team, with perfect co ordination, with each other. All in all, writer director Gajendra Ahire has highly impressed through his skillful presentation, to make this play a worth watch for all age groups.

Marathi Play, Uney Purey Shahar Ek
Play Review

‘Uney Purey Shahar Ek’ – Display of good teamwork

Aside

Marathi Play, Uney Purey Shahar Ek

Aasakta, Pune is a group of enthusiastic artistes from Pune and their first love has always been theatre. They don’t perform on stage, for monetary benefits . Their biggest satisfaction is group effort and instant audience response. Recently, the group performed  2 shows of  wonderful Marathi play  ‘Uney Purey Shahar Ek’ at Prithvi Theatres, Juhu. Based on Girish karnad’s Kannada Play ‘Benda Kaalu on Toast’ the  Marathi adaptation of it, was done  by Pradeep Vaiddya , while the play was designed & directed by Mohit Takalkar.

The cast of the film comprised of about 35 versatile artistes, some of them already popular stage, television and film stars. Prominent among them were Radhika  Apte, Anita Date, Vibhavari Deshpande, Jyoti Subhash, Ashwini Giri, Sayali Deodhar, Siddharth Menon, Umesh Jagtap ,Sagar Deshmukh and others.

The play shows the contrast in the lifestyle of Rich, the middle class and the lower class.  Very realistically, the script of this play goes on to show the attitude of each character in this play. And, you soon notice, what’s in the mind of each character, with the progress of this play. It is actually a performance oriented play, with superb performances coming from all the artistes. You can call it, an excellent team work. Credit also goes to all those back stage artistes, who quickly arranged  the sets for every new scene, to make it more impressive.

It is surprising that such plays are not staged at popular Marathi drama theatres in Mumbai and Pune.  If they are staged at these places, they will certainly  receive good response. Hope to see this team back again on stage. Don’t miss it. It’s sensible, yet hilarious!

Sharad Ponkshe, Ashwini Ekbote, marathi natak
Play Review

Emotion filled ‘Tya Tighanchi Goshta’ touches your heart

Aside

Sharad Ponkshe, Ashwini Ekbote, marathi natak

Kumar Sohoni has always dealt with different subjects on human relations. Through all his 51 plays directed so far, he has offered ample talents to Marathi theatre. This time, through his play ‘Tya Tighanchi Goshta’ , he has explored the relationship between a separated couple Dinanath and Suman Daftardar ( Sharad Ponkshe & Ashwini Ekbote) . How it has the effect on their grown up 19 year old daughter Deepti ( Dnyanada Panase) is shown very cleverly by the director. The play is written by well known psychiatrist and writer Dr.Anand Nadkarni, which makes it more interesting subject, as he has very skillfully presented the emotional sides of each one of these three important characters.

Produced by Ashok Narkar and Sharad Bagwe, the play begins with the close bonding shown between mother (who is a college professor) and her daughter, who is studying in the final year, at the same college. The father, an IAS officer, who has separated from his wife and daughter, 15 years ago, is now Municipal Commissioner of the same city, where Mother and daughter are residing. Though Mother and daughter are not connected with Mr. Dinanath Daftardar, they are in touch with his close associates Nana his personal secretary and Mangesh, his old classmate and Journalist friend.

One fine day, Nana visits Ms. Daftardar to invite her for the felicitation function of her husband, who is to be honoured by the chief Minister of state. This is followed by a personal phone call and personal visit of Dinanath Daftardar to meet his wife and grown up daughter. Having heard about her father, through her mother, Deepti is initially reluctant to meet her father; but, later decides to face him, to know the reason from him, for deserting his wife and her. But, it is the mother, being very possessive about her daughter, becomes more worried, thinking that her grown up daughter would change her opinion about her father, after meeting him.

At this stage, the writer and the director are clearly noticed, with their competence to take forward this delicate emotion filled subject, with interesting happenings . In the climax scene, Deepti converses with the audience, seeking their opinion, on what she did, was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. ‘Tya Tighanchi Goshta’ presents the most relevant subject timely, to convey a strong message to the society. And, it has succeeded in creating a strong impact on all age groups. The story presented through this play, does not take side of any one of the characters, but very cleverly presents their attitude, with passage of time.

Both Sharad Ponkshe and Ashwini Ekbote, have portrayed their characters with complete understanding of the situation, at every stage in this play. They have proved that they are versatile artistes. They find good support from the character artistes Jayant Ghate and Vivek Joshi. But, the girl who steals the show, is young Dnyanada Panase. She seems to be a perfect choice of the director. And, she has proved his selection right. In fact, she has given a brilliant performance in the role of Deepti. Watch her reaction and body language, in every important scene, be it with mother or father; which goes on to say a lot about her gifted talent. She is so flawless. Good background music and suitable light and set designing, are the other plus points of this play. Certainly a worth watch, for the entire family.

Rating:fullfullfullfull

Play Review

‘Aai Tula Mee Kuthe Thevu’- An emotion filled timely drama

aai mi tula kuthe theu marathi natakIf some one doesn’t treat you right, you should have enough respect for yourself to leave them. But, what would the older people do, if their children keep tossing them from one place to other. We have seen this happen in popular Bollywood film ‘Baghbaan’. New Marathi play written by Ashok Patole and directed by Purushottam Berde, shows the plight of a older widow (Rohini Hattangadi) , who has been brought by her younger son, to her old place, where his brother and sister in law live. Her younger son and his wife live at a different locations. Both these places have been provided to them by her late husband, who was holding a very high position in a big company.

Both her sons ( Rupersh Patole & Siddhesh Shelar) do care for their mother; but in presence of their wives( Surbhi Bhave & Yogini Chouk), they listen to whatever their wives say. So, in short, the mother is not happy at both the places, as she has become a burden for the wives of two sons. The younger son drops her mother to his elder brother’s house, only because he wants his own mother to say something in the documentary on ‘Indian Mothers’ being made by him. In comes a slim and fit old lady of her age (Manda Desai) , who is also mother of her elder daughter in law. She suggests to her daughter’s mother-in- law to remain fit like her.

The real drama begins, when both the daughters in law are together, and there are some exchange of words, which turns into a physical handling of their mother-in-law. This particular scene shows, to what extent some of the daughters in law can go, when it comes to confronting the elders. But, the old lady is smart enough to turn the tables on her both daughters in law. In the post interval session, there is a sudden twist and we find the change in attitude of both the daughters in law. Obviously, for the share of property. Even both the sons now insist on their mother to stay with them, to please her. But the old mother has a different game plan to teach a lesson to her daughters in law; only to conclude the play with happy ending.

Rohini Hattangadi, who has returned to stage after so many years, is simply superb, through her performance. The way she walks with a stick, her emotions, her body language, everything could be noticed very clearly, through her dialogue delivery. She gets a loud applause at her entry on stage, which speaks everything. In the roles of both the daughters in law Surbhi Bhave and TV star Yogini Chouk have played their negative roles, with total conviction, to make the confrontation with their mother in law, look more effective. In the roles of two sons, Rupesh Patole and Siddhesh Shelar look suitable. Manda Desai brings in some humour, through her amusing character. In short, the performances of all the artistes, are brilliant, indicating an excellent team work.

The sound and light effects have been used well, to present seriousness in some of the sequences. Writer Ashok Patole has clearly suggested, how important it is for the elders to preserve their wealth and not to transfer anything in their children’s name. Besides wealth, he has also given a message through one of the characters, the importance of physical fitness, in older age, to remain self sufficient. Director Purushottam Berde has given this play a touch of Saas- bahu drama, in a different way, which lasts for about 2 hours and 35mins. Certainly a worth watch for all.

Play Review, Theatre

‘Mr. & Mrs.’ Present Bold and Scandalous plot

mr-and-mrs-play-poster Banner: Terracomm presents, Atharva prakashit, Rutuja Productions.
Director:Priyadarshan Jadhav.
Story: Aslam Parvez.
Cast: Chinmay Mandlekar, Madhura Velankar Satam, Priyadarshan Jadhav, Aniruddha Joshi, Yashashree Upasani, Amit Surve.

‘Mr. & Mrs.’ Present Bold and Scandalous plotMarathi theatre has always attempted bold and sensational subjects. New Marathi play ‘Mr. & Mrs.’ falls in this category; but it has turned scandalous, looking at its main plot. Directed by ‘Fu Bai Fu’ fame Priyadarshan Jadhav, this is not a romantic comedy, as expected; but, a bold and shocking subject, set on the backdrop of a scandalous reality show. Written by Aslam Parvez, the play presents a couple Amit ( Chinmay Mandlekar ) and Meera( Madhura Velankar Satam ) , who have completed six years of married life. While Amit , a former TV star is without work, his wife works for a Financial institution and manages the house.

Always doubting his wife’s association with her office colleague Rohan, frustrated Amit spends his time smoking, sometimes drinking and talking to his pet dog Silver, till he meets his old producer friend Ashwin( Priyadarshan Jadhav) . From him he receives an unusual offer to perform in a reality show, shooting of which is to take place in his own house. It’s all in ‘Big Boss’ style, with hidden cameras placed in his house including bedroom, except for bathroom, with Amit and Meera as participants. The idea is to present something cheeky & scandalous about the actor’s personal married life, which is supposed to end with real divorce in the climax. His wife is however, kept in dark about this show, which is shot in their own house, with Ashwin keeping track of the happenings through closed circuit cameras. He only gives directions to Amit, about the next situation through microphone, with the help of his crew posted outside.

mr-mrs-play-marathi-Initially, Amit is reluctant to accept this offer; but looking at the lucrative offer price, he agrees to do it. At a particular point, watching his wife’s bedroom video on Ashwin’s mobile, Amit turns furious and decides to back out. But, shrewd Ashwin shows his real colours and tries to blackmail Amit. In the climax, Meera having come to know about her husband’s plans and decides to leave the house, giving him a surprise news.

The play moves well till the interval, generating interest; but the usage of bad language intermittently, spoils the show. There was absolutely no need to use foul language, which is otherwise censored in Marathi films and TV serials. Even Bollywood films censor such bad words, uttered in films or issue A certification, or blowing the whistle. Traditional Marathi theatre audience, who come with high hopes of watching something good, should not be taken for granted. Even a famous Hollywood Cowboy style foul word has been openly uttered on the stage, shocking some of the sensible audience in theatre.

Talking about the plus points, the play has been able to present something different on the stage, with the use of Video screens installed at four places around, to show the screening of images captured by hidden cameras. Rishikesh kamerkar’s music is apt for certain important occasions. Madhura’s dress designs and hair styles are something special to give her glamorous looks. But, the costumes used by Chinmay look very cheap. Set design and lighting are good and so are the performances of the artistes.

Both Chinmay and Madhura have performed their roles with ease. Chinmay gets an opportunity to express his inner feelings on two occasions, in the post interval session and he does a good job, like a versatile actor. In the climax scene, Madhura instead of reacting sharply on her husband’s deeds, chooses to offer no reaction, which was surprising. Even,her low voice could not be heard clearly by the audience sitting in back rows, as observed by their reaction after the show.

As an actor, Priyadarshan has paid more attention on his voice over microphone conversation with Amit; though he has few scenes on stage too. In the supporting cast, Aniruddha Joshi, Yashashree Upasani, and Amit Surve have offered good backing. Yashasree has been used in double part very cleverly. Barring the occasional foul language and the ineffective climax, ‘Mr.& Mrs.’ has offered a variety, presenting something unconventional on Marathi stage.