Gotya - hindi drama review : www.MumbaiTheatreGuide.com

Direction :
Starring :

Dhanendra Kawade
Dhanendra Kawade, Mandar Gokhale, Sonal Khade & others.

Deepa Punjani

Dhanendra Kawade�s 3rd Bell Productions strives to produce original work in the theatre that includes plays for children. Their KAHANI LE LO, which was a dramatization of stories from the Panchatantra is followed by GOTYA, a stage adaptation of N.D. Thamnakar�s eponymous novel. The play recently premiered at Prithvi�s �Summertime 2007�.

While Kawade�s direction of the text is engaging in its blend of song, narrative and dialogue, it falls short of creating any lasting impression. The antics of its young protagonist Vishwas Rao, who is fondly known as Gotya (Mandar Gokhale) are replete with clich�s and have no worthwhile insight to offer, besides the familiar, odd moral. Kawade�s dramatization of the text projects a utopian plot, sans the magic and the wizardry. The text appears not only simplistic but also dated.

The plot basically centres on the series of smart alecky events that Gotya spearheads after his lucky break from his orphaned and cruel past. The house of Dada and Bhabhi (Ujwal Chopra and Reshma Shetty) who have adopted Gotya resembles a 24-hour playground. All the characters in the play seem to run their lives around him.

By and by Gotya comes across as the quintessential, unrealistic and jingoistic Bollywood hero and much less the young boy he is supposed to be. He is accompanied in his games and �do good� things by Suma (Sonal Khade), the precocious niece of Dada and Bhabhi. The sum cast of actors, which include few children, deliver a spirited performance. Mandar Gokhale�s Gotya and Sonal Khade�s Suma could however do better by holding on to their child-like characters. In places they appear more like the adults they are than the children they are supposed to be playing. Ujwal Chopra and Reshma Shetty on the other hand essay their parts as Dada and Bhabhi fairly well.

Director Dhanendra Kawade himself plays the sutradhar (narrator) and lead chorus singer. The chorus enlivens the play even if the singing is not uniformly good. Its Tamasha folk idiom adds colour to Gotya�s story. There is not a dull moment; the play amuses and entertains but only superficially. Dada�s reflection on the lack of children�s literature in India couldn�t have been more ironic in relation to the dramatized script itself.

*The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre and Performance Studies.

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