In keeping with TPOT's earlier productions- KUMBH KATHA and AAJ RANG HAI, CHAAR SMALL, arguably marks the arrival of the blockbuster play. Drawing heavily from Bollywood technique and elements, the play has as its theme several up-to-the-minute issues. CHAAR SMALL, as the title suggests, contains four first-hand short stories, namely Purva Naresh's DO DEEWANEY, Sanjay Dadhich's DADDU TIWARI and Trishla Patel's LASH-TING IMPRESSIONS, and SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT.
DO DEEWANEY, is the lilting love-story of Amar and Arifa, a Mumbai boy, and a migrant girl from UP, who are faced with many contemporaneous issues. While it is quite similar in theme to Purva's earlier piece AABODANA (part of Rage's ONE ON ONE), this time around, she gives it a happy ending. Her skilful metaphor converts the romance into a piece about Mumbai city- its lure, local trains, unpredictable rains and lurking communal concerns. Nivedita Bhattacharya works life into Arifa, and Mukul Chadda makes a sincere lyricist in love questing after a "secular vayvahik jeevan." Gopal Tewari charms one with his neat direction, worked up in swift entries and exits used to denote the passage of time, the fluidity of Amar and Arifa's love, and the pace of life in the city of Mumbai.
Trishla Patel's LASH-TING IMPRESSIONS chronicles the progression of a pothole located outside a residential colony. In the vein of the Hindi hasya vyangya, writer Trishla satirizes society and its shortcomings through a personified khadda that tilts its perspective so as to show us the other side. The piece evokes empathy for the pothole, and conveys a didactic message. Trishla's direction is also engaging and unusual. The stage space is completely filled up and nameless characters come together as a community, sing, dance, fight, and fall apart in an act, which often takes the form of a musical that cleverly employs many visual symbols. Gagan Riar keeps one engrossed with his narration of the story, and his singing.
Trishla's other piece, SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT, is about constancy in the wake of change. This piece is an out-an-out Bollywood inspired musical. A sardonic view on evolution, it tells a bizarre love-story in song and dance, making references to several cultural texts, events and a gamut of old and new songs. Shikha Gupta, the gaze-catching female protagonist of this piece keeps one hooked on to her antics and her appeal. Trishla once again weaves you into her flawless use of stage space, making sure there is never a dull moment. Movement, positioning, gesture, stance of the ensemble of actors, as well as the colours and costumes, are all executed near-perfectly.
Sanjay Dadhich's DADDU TIWARI is not far behind either. Mapping the mindset of a migrant child as he grows into an adult, this vignette is about the need for belonging. Dadhich peppers the story with situations and utterances that have the audience in splits. The voyeuristic but mammoth impact of the media (film especially) is particularly well brought out in extreme comical sequences. Trishla posits some resonant scenes on stage so strongly, that you carry them back with you. DADDU TIWARI however is somewhat scattered towards the end.
Live-band Translucent makes an indispensible contribution to the play with its music. Filmic titles for the stories, a frame-story set in a seedy bar, kitsch Bollywood posters, upturned Bollywood plots, filmi lyrics, and rapidly projected shots tell you this is almost a film on stage. Hidaayat Sami on lights too makes effortless switches from the garish bar to the illuminated love-stories and reminisces.
CHAAR SMALL, a tour de force in TPOT's body of work, is anything but small.
*Asma Ladha holds a Master's degree in English Literature and Applied Linguistics. She is an applied linguist, a freelance critic, a research student and a poet.
