Ashvin Gidwani Productions (AGP) reopened Mahesh Dattani's THE BIG FAT CITY at NCPA's Tata theatre last weekend. The play had one show earlier at the NCPA Centrestage festival in December 2012. Dattani, who has been living in Mumbai for the past seven years now, was inspired to write this play after staying in the Andheri-Lokhandwala area for three years. We found out about this in an interview that we recently conducted with him. Indeed the play makes the connection to aspiring actresses, television stars, the corporate executive who has outrun his credit, immediately apparent. These are stock figures; cliches even, yet they are very real too.
In this case, what makes them interesting, is not so much about who they are, but of what happens to them as they find themselves in a situation that none of them could have bargained for despite all their pettiness and compromises. It is also this situation which lends the play its dark and funny side, unfortunately not realised in performance. This is partly because of the tepid acting and partly due to the flawed nature of its script.
Not wanting to reveal the story, let me just say that in a play where the characters are thrown into an unexpected and a bizarre situation, there needs to be an element of surprise. The pace of such a play must be given equal importance too. Neither of these two essential factors has been taken into consideration. It does not help either that most of the cast members are strictly average in their performances.
This well- intended 'black comedy' is further compromised as it does not stop at pointing out the vagaries of Mumbai's denizens in tinsel town but extends to the Khap Panchayats of North Indian States like Haryana. Dattani therefore risks tokenism, superficiality and sanctimoniousness. The dramatic situation, against which the play is propped, ends up being a ploy that has not quite succeeded. The play, meant to satirise the precarious nature of life in big commercial cities like Mumbai, hence comes across as a bygone fact, and has nothing telling about it. The tension in the play does not grow in proportion to the corporate executive Murli's body itch; an interesting bit of characterisation.
I couldn't help thinking while watching the play that there is actually a potential for a film in it if re-worked and executed sharply while keeping its dramatic shell intact. Our films can certainly be more stylish than all our commercial theatre put together. There is no good reason though why this should be the case for the theatre experience is a unique one. I imagine that if the actors can get their act together, and the script can be tightened, the production will gain an edge.
