The city of Mumbai has always evoked a range of emotions and metaphors. It is correctly said that the city can make you feel like intimate family and an absolute stranger in equal proportions, depending on who you are, and where you belong. Bursting at her seams with people across class, caste, region, religion, and social stature, Mumbai, or Bombay, as it was formerly known, is a melting pot of identities, of dreams and stories, and often enough, she serves as a closet full of discreetly hidden secrets.
BOMBAY DYING by Akvarious Productions is a thriller wrapped in dark comedy with Akarsh Khurana (originally Kumud Mishra), Ayesha Raza Mishra, Hussain Dalal (originally Siddharth Menon), Shriya Pilgaonkar, Anand Tiwari, Tariq Vasudeva and Ira Dubey in the cast.
Written by Akarsh Khurana and Hussain Dalal, and directed by Akarsh Khurana, BOMBAY DYING is based in the Dadar East locality of Mumbai, where once stood the iconic Bombay Dyeing factory. The plot comprises three unrelated stories about characters portraying three completely different lifestyles, dealing with their own complicated lives and hinging on eerily dark histories of their own. An incident that takes place one portentous night in the isolated, dark expanse of the Bombay Dyeing mill compound, brings the three distinct people together.
Be it on stage or on screen, depicting parallel stories with undertones of mystery and suspense comes with the enormous risk of losing audience interest. This is one of the several areas, where BOMBAY DYING scores well. The play unfurls like a fast paced novel, sticking to the proven successful formula of punctuating the storyline with comic, dramatic and nail-biting moments, resulting in effortlessly attracting its viewers. Kudos to Khurana and Dalal for managing to keep us hooked, but greater depth in the play's writing is missing, which is a pity, especially since BOMBAY DYING is loaded with potential to impress.
The play undoubtedly has an excellent set of actors. I would particularly like to draw your attention to Akarsh Khurana and Ayesha Raza Mishra. As the Muslim couple grappling with the aftermath of the serial bombings that shook Mumbai in 1993, they served as anchors of the play, balancing the high adrenaline parallel stories, with utmost composure, restraint and subtlety in their performances. Anand Tiwari, in a very short role, yet again makes his presence felt, in his portrayal of the crass, perverted hotel room guest.
The simplicity of the set - 2 to 3 pieces of wooden furniture, which remain constant through the play, is complimented by the interesting use of two large LED screens placed on either side of the stage. Corresponding to the evolving tone of the storyline, the projections on these screens continuously switched from silent videos of Mumbai in the 1950s to quotations and random psychedelic patterns, adding a certain amount of soul, suaveness and edginess to the plot. This is a smart piece of theatre with thoughtfully selected sound tracks and has an unmistakable Akvarious stamp to it.
Rhea Mukerjee is a public relations professional who loves Hemingway, Gone with the Wind, The Beatles, theatre, coffee, Paris, and wine. She was bitten by the theatre bug about a decade ago, and has been writing about it, ever since.
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