By the time KASHMIR KASHMIR was over, words by H.L. Mencken: 'An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run,' were running through my mind. There are times when we need to pick out the most mundane and done-to-death topics like terrorism and our degrading environment, and have them shoved right up our noses, for us to smell the morbid stink of death emitting from them. Ramu Ramanathan's KASHMIR KASHMIR does exactly this, but in an extremely interesting way. When a compelling script is sprinkled with a plethora of witty dialogues and fascinating characters, what we get is a hard-hitting play like this.
Set in the middle of nowhere is the hotel 'Kashmir Kashmir' (The hotel is a curious relic of the state of Kashmir). A couple (Radhika Apte and Sagar Deshmukh) find themselves stuck in this place for their honeymoon, with a hotel manager (Omkar Govardhan) who looks like a terrorist, his wife (Rupali Bhave) who looks like a psycho murderer and a cook (Sarang Sathaye) with suicidal tendencies. Referring to the many incidents in our history, right from the Taliban to the Lashkar-E-Toiba, the hotel manager is suspicious of his guest's intentions. The entire process of destruction and then the attempt to reconstruct the hotel has been showed in the play. I would like to say more about the script but then that will only ruin the impact of it.
The only flaw that I found in the production was the accent of the actors performing the play. It would have been a good idea to do this play in a regional language. For the diction of all the actors (barring Rupali Bhave's) was not clear enough and resulted in the audience missing some key points in the script.
Omkar Govardhan's manager did a decent enough job if not brilliant. Rupali Bhave was also good enough, but again not dazzling. Radhika Apte's Champa was perfect and the same goes for Sagar Deshmukh's Rajivlal. The cook (Sarang Sathye) was effortless in his acting and I would say that he is an actor to look out for. The light design by Pradeep Vaidya helped create an unsettling ambience as was required of the play. The music by Saket Kanetkar multiplied the effect of the actor's emotions. Kudos to Mohit Takalkar for the brilliant direction of the play. This is a play strongly recommended for all those who know how to admire a good script and sensible entertainment.
*Pooja Gautam is a business journalist who enjoys theatre.
