THEATRE TO WATCH OUT FOR THIS WEEKEND

SAT 22ND JUNE

Big Fat City Premiere Show (written and directed by Mahesh Dattani) TATA THEATRE 7pm
Hu Chandrakant Bakshi (Gujarati) (directed by Manoj Shah) NCPA Experimental 7pm
One on One (produced by Rage Productions) Prithvi Theatre 6 and 9pm

SUN 23RD JUNE
Love Letters (produced by Rage Productions) Prithvi Theatre 11 30am
The Beauraucrat (produced by Rage Productions) Prithvi Theatre 5 30 and 8 30pm
Karl Marx in Kalbadevi (Gujarati) (directed by Manoj Shah) NCPA Experimental 7pm

TRIKAL - PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE

FILM: TRIKAL

DIR: SHYAM BENEGAL

FEATURING: NASEERUDDIN SHAH, ANITA KANWAR, NEENA GUPTA, ILA ARUN, KK RAINA, AKASH KHURANA, LUCKY ALI AND MANY MORE

When the film opens you wonder....why is this Goan character Ruiz Pareria (Naseeruddin Shah) speaking fluent urdu...I mean it is a realistic film so...??? But a few scenes down the line we see a few characters conversing in Portugal then a line 'Ab se ye kirdaar hume samajh me aaye aisi bhasha me baat karenge'...MASTERSTROKE!!!!

MASTERSTROKE!!!! is maybe the best way to define this film. Complex characters! An old lady Dona Maria Souzasoares (Leela Naidu) cannot accept that her husband is dead. Her daughter (Anita Kanwar) wants to get Anna (her daughter) married to Erasmo (Lucky Ali) - an eligible bachelor who has come with his parents all the way from Poutugal to seek the bride. Milagrenia (Neena Gupta) - an illegitimate daughter whose standing is no more than a servant and who is now a means through which Dona Maria tries to communicate to the spirit of her husband failing everytime. Kulbhushan Kharbanda who is the face of the spirits of people who were massacred due to Dona Maria's husband. Aurora (Soni Razdan) who is in love with a drunkard Francis and so on. The good thing here is that the complexities never end. Sometimes make you laugh at the black humor (Anita Kanwar's hysterical cries to the stupid face of her husband KK Raina) sometimes horrifying you with Neena Gupta's intense act, sometimes thrilling you because of its Pre liberation set up. You just cannot take your eyes off.

Kudos to the director and this enitre team of cast and crew who effortlessly pull off such a complex script, such complex characters with ease and humour. Music of the film is another surprise! It sounds way ahead of its time with rendations and compositions not only taking you to Goa and Portugal but also give you a sense of belonging in 2013 (and all this was achieved in 1985...almost 30 years ago). From beautiful production design to luminous camera work to the razor sharp editing to the ear soothing noise free music to delightful performances to the powerful script and direction every thing works for the film. If at all there could have been any imperfection in the film it could probably be the ball room dance sequence in the second half which could have been shorter one would feel. 

This is the film of 2018 made way ahead of its time in 1985!

HU CHANDRAKANT BAKSHI

PLAY: Hu Chandrakant Bakshi

DIR: Manoj Shah

PROD: Ideas Unlimited

WRITER: Shishir Ramawat

FEATURING: Pratik Gandhi

'Hu Chandrakant Bakshi' (I am Chandrakant Bakshi)....a monologue based on one of the most celebrated and most controversial Gujarati writer - Chandrakant Bakshi. Presented by Ideas Unlimited and directed by Manoj Shah (one of the most active director on experimental Gujarati theatre....may be one in the handful who has kept Gujarati theatre alive) enacted by Pratik Gandhi and written by Shishir Ramavat takes you through the journey of this writer, considered to be one of the most egoistic and the most loved of Gujarati writers, from his early days in Kolkata to his days in Mumbai where he wrote for a lot of daily newspapers, weekly magazines, became a professor of history at Mithibai college then went on to become the principal of Sharda college to be unceremoniously thrown of after a couple of years and then went on to become the sheriff of Mumbai. 

The narrative used here is very simple but words are woven and attitudes are defined very meticulously. It could easily have turned out into a verbose affair but the performance is engaging and enlightening to say the least.

The high points of the play include, a very effective light design (one of the best I have seen in Gujarati theatre), good use of music, minimalistic set design (the use of ladder needs special mention) and off course effortless portrayal of the character both in internalization as well as body language (here we see chandrakant bakshi from his college days to the time he must have been 50 something and had suffered a heart attack).

Worth a watch...Catch it at NCPA experimental theatre on Sat 22nd June 7pm