JUNGLE MEIN MANGAL (Marathi).
August 24, 2005.
Time: 2:30 pm.
Duration: 2 hrs. 30 mins. with Interval.
Original play written by William Shakespeare.
Marathi adaptation: Alok Paranjape.
Director: Chetan Datar.
Cast: Nandita Patkar/Chaitali Deshpande (Sarjerao), Aagyashri Paane/Yogita Kulkarni (Bajirao), Mayur Ravingde/Sachin Suresh (Suguna) & others.

The play is a creative adaptation of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. The format of the play borrows from the traditional folk form of Tamasha. And to add more spice, there is surprise in the form of 'cross casting'. This form serves to underline the fantasy element, which is in keeping with the ethos of the play. At best, this is a comic drama that has a love-story at its very heart with as many surprising twists and turns to keep the audience riveted.


PATA HORE JAYE & BARDA (Bengali)
August 25, 2005.
Time: 7:30 pm.
Duration: 2 hrs. 15 mins with Interval
Design & Direction: Rudraprasad Sengupta.
Cast: Rudraprasad Sengupta & Swatilekha Sengupta.

The play, PATA JHORE JAYE is a 40-minute play by Buddhadeb Basu. Its premise rests on the small talk between an old couple who have reached the evening of their life. Their daughter and son are both married, presumably happy. As the couple relives their memories, both happy and sad ones, each of them is also lost in a private world of their own. Time hangs heavily on their hands as they wait for their children to visit them just as they wait for death. The play assumes the quality of being 'a song in prose' with the same images, dialogues and themes recurring like a musical refrain.


BARDA (Bengali)
August 25, 2005.
Original Story by Munshi Premchand.
Cast: Goutam Haldar.

Barda is an elision for Bora Da, meaning elder brother in Bengali. Premchand's original story is titled 'Bade Bhai Sahab'. An elderly gentleman, possibly an autobiographical image of Premchand himself, sits in an easy chair and gives an interview to a TV channel. He remembers his elder brother during their school days, with fun-filled teasing, much affection and love. Director Sengupta uses a similar narrative technique for this play as he has used for PATA JHORE JAYE. The man thus recounts several incidents that are ironical, funny and sad, which is the stuff of life itself. In this story, writer Premchand reveals not only his elder brother's idiosyncrasies and oddities of character with a subtle touch of humour, he also touches a deep chord in us with a recollection for bade bhai sahab's undying respect for family traditions, bonding, love and caring of the aged and the elderly, his deep and abiding love for his younger brother and his profound respect for the earth.


AATHMA TARANU AAKASH (Gujarati)
August 25, 2005.
Time: 2:30 pm.
Duration: 2 hrs with Interval.
Writer/Director: Saumya Joshi.
Cast: Jigna Vyas, Jitendra Indrekar, Milesh Bhabi, Paresh Vyas & others.

This play revolves around an old man and his grandson named Alag. The play attempts to capture the dreams and aspirations of the pair in contrast to the stark realities of their lives. Set in the slums of an industrial area in the city of Ahemdabad (which could of course, be any city), the play presents a stark narrative of the deprived people of our society. The play's protagonist Dada survives simply because of his imagination that spins beautiful stories about the 'second-hand' objects that are an integral part of his junk shop. He keeps narrating these stories to his grand-son who initially feels that the only way to survive his harsh circumstances is to resort to nefarious activities. Sensing the frightening change that is coming over Alag, the dying grandfather wages the last and most important battle of his long life- the battle against the boy's cynicism. The play is a poignant tribute to the sheer capacity of human survival where dignity can simply not be sacrificed in the face of the greatest of trials.


RAAG DARBARI (Hindi)
August 25, 2005.
Time: 7:30 pm.
Duration: 2 hrs. 15 mins with Interval.
Based on a novel by Shrilal Shukla.
Design and Direction: Vijay Kumar.
Cast: Archana Soni (Bela), Pankaj Tripathi (Master Motiram/Vaidyaji), Randhir Kumar (Rangnath) & others.

Brimming with wit, humour and using the haasya rasa to make its point, RAAG DARBARI is a pungent political satire in our distorted and corrupt system. Obviously, the allusion here is not so much to the original melodious raga of our classical music, but rather refers to the besura tune sung by the courtiers of a latter-day raja- a petty village politician. This court of the village Shivpalganj is presided over by one Vaidyaji, an ayurvedic Brahmin quack who is the self-styled kingpin of his village. Set in the early 1950's in a typical North-Indian village, the story maps out the mind-boggling daily political skullduggery as ordinary people are used as pawns on the political chessboard. But RAAG DARBARI does not stop at highlighting only the negative aspects of our fractured body politic at the grassroots level; it also offers us glimpses of some positive changes that seem to be taking place in spite of the powers-that-be.