This is one play that so clearly lacks depth. It's also a pity that its people have simply forgotten the meaning of the phrase 'short and sweet', and insist on making the audience sit through unnecessarily long sequences.
A group of cancer patients are doing a play through which they try to live their own lives, which have been derailed by their medical condition. This play has been written by another patient who is already dead. He seemes to have understood the inner selves of the other patients, the doctor and his male nurse. He has written a play which depicts each one of them in the way they'd ideally want to be. Sounds interesting. However playwright Mahesh Dattani doesn't do justice enough. The feelings of the characters are not explored. Also when you have actors whose performances leave a lot to be desired and situations and characters left unexplained, it becomes extremely difficult to keep one's frustration at bay.
The only part where the play seemed to work is Suchitra Pillai's monologue about her life before and after breast cancer. The performance and the story can have even the strongest of hearts melt like butter. The waltz that was done during the monologue was like a cherry on top of the cake. But overall the stories of the remaining characters fall short. The play drags so, that it simply doesn't create the impact it should have. One very good thing though is the manner in which the language has been crafted and used by the actors.
The actors however seem to have forgotton that subtelty works. Nevertheless the chemistry between Suchitra Pillai and Amar Talwar is touching and sweet. Joy Sengupta is exasperating while Zafar Karachiwala is lucky to have a charming personality and a deep-throated voice. Satchit Puranik is good and makes himself a favorite of the audience easily. Manasi Parekh is ok as Dr. Dave.
Lighting was decent enough and created the right ambience. The star of the play was the live music played on a guitar by Zafar Karachiwala and also the song sung by him and the rest of the actors. It was simple, beautiful and heart-warming. Director Lillette Dubey should have concentrated on the length of the play and tried to make it crisper. Quite a let-down.
*Pooja Gautam is a business journalist who enjoys theatre.
