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If you are the typical Marathi commercial theatre audience and expect nothing out of a play except a few puns here and there, a tinge of unreasonable emotion and some touches of glamour, a stagnant mind recommends the new production JIVAAT JEEV GHUTMALA. A comic drama as it may be called if one were to forcefully tag it with a genre. The play employs the age-old, commercial Marathi theatre formula to enthrall its audience.
Looking at it solely from a brain-dead, entertainment point of view, the play still doesn’t completely succeed in serving you with a bag full of fun. By the time the essential dramatic conflict is established, which by the way happens only at the end of the first act, you fail to realize what are you actually watching the play for. Two unemployed youth, Rishi & Ninad struggling for survival in the city of Mumbai rent a place. They fail to pay the rent and are evicted by the stonehearted landlord. However they still continue staying in his place without his knowledge. Rishi, a poet, has lost his heart to the landlord’s daughter whereas Ninad, who has followed Rishi to help him realize his dream is after the landlord’s widowed daughter-in-law. This is what the plot largely is.
Two more characters make an entry to help the two young men attain their objectives. The reason for the help is the so called ‘twist’ in the story which appears at the end of the first act. A couple of other characters such as Nalawde and his mistress Chandni seem to have been introduced to make way for double meaning jokes – an indispensable factor that has been the sole cause for making such plays a big success.
The first and the second acts are marked by a stark difference. The first half appears to be an attempt to hold the audience with bland humour, which has become the characteristic of contemporary Marathi commercial theatre. The second half sails on a fantasized canvas which seems to be a theatrical remake of Mahesh Bhat’s PYAR KA SAAYA, which again was a remake of the Hollywood movie GHOST. Perhaps the only highpoint of the play was the music. The select background music and composed tunes touched the heart. The poetry employed in the play was also good. The light design must have made the producers proud. The effects created by the lights would have made better sense had there been a more appropriate set design. The set though not clumsy was not even very pleasing to look at. The designer needs to think about optimum usage. The actors have done a pretty good job. ‘Appa’ stands out amongst them, with all with his foolishness. On the whole, an enjoyable experience. Just remember to switch off your brain.
Asmit Pathare is a software engineer by profession and a young theatre enthusiast. His theatre experience dates back to his college days in Sangli. He has participated in theatre productions and has his own blog, which reveals his passion for poetry. His column ‘The Marathi Theatre Round-Up’ is now a regular feature in the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). He has assisted Atul Kumar of the Company Theatre with music for the production NUMBERS IN THE DARK and continues to work with him.
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