Written and Directed : Manav Kaul Cast : Manav Kaul, Manasi Bhawalkar, Sonakshi Singh Thakur
EK HAARE HUE KAVI KI SAFAL KAVITA Review
Being a writer and poet himself, Manav Kaul knows what the creative process is like, the wooing of the muse, so to say. With his new play, EK HAARE HUE KAVI KI SAFAL KAVITA, he plays a poet struggling to get words on to the page, while fending off two snarky women (Manasi Bhawalkar, Sonakshi Singh Thakur), who represent two styles of poetry - revolutionary and romantic.
That's putting it too simply, what Kaul does is take the idea that terrifies most creative people - the Writer's Block. Sitting at a desk on a stage festooned with paper and screens with words written on them the poet is stuck and behaves like a petulant child, while the woman he refers to as Haar (defeat) in his script, goads and mocks him.
The poet keeps returning to the line: "Jab khana khan eke baad, thaali mein tum ungliyon se chitra banati ho.. to us waqt tum kya soch rahi hoti ho?" Haar refuses to oblige him with an answer. She wants him to complete the poem she has started.
Kaul throws the tormented poet image out and replaces is with a character who is amusing in his confusion. Haar wants him to write a rousing poem, because it is the need of the day; he responds that poetry does not bring about revolution. She behaves like a thwarted lover, but their banter is both sharp and affectionate. She pouts that a poem should have the right to choose her poet, implying that she could have chosen better. She taunts him that his break-up with a woman is the reason for his block.
Then Jeet (victory) steps on the stage, and now he has two women targeting him and also bickering with each other. Haar says she is the poem of the youth that is protesting on the streets and they need straightforward poetry. Jeet says her existence as a love poem is a form of protest against all the violence in the world.
In a light-hearted manner, Kaul allows the audience to get a glimpse of the pangs of writing, what constitutes grist for the poetry mill, wonders about the efficacy of words and the difficulty of living up to the ideas they express. In a way is also demystifies the work of a poet, when the muses tell him to write as he speaks, maybe because it is difficult to determine what actually makes a successful poem.
The play is enhanced by the performances - Bhawalkar and Thakur have fine speaking and singing voices; as writer, director and star, Kaul has complete control, but he plays the poet as a mildly ridiculous and self-deprecating character, not stealing the thunder of his co-actors. In spite of the seriousness of the subject, Ek Haare Hue Kavi Ki Safal Kavita is a laugh-out-loud play, when it could easily have been ponderous or pretentious.
Deepa Gahlot is a journalist, columnist, author and curator. Some of her writings are on deepagahlot.com
EK HAARE HUE KAVI KI SAFAL KAVITA Play Schedule(s)
