Naha Le Re Bhai

Naha Le Re Bhai is a satire on Indian bureaucracy and judicial system. It is a collection of short scenes, each having one short story. The namesake case filed by wife seeking divorce from her husband is brought to the court as the last case of the play. The court employees also have standalone scenes with funny one-liners and jibes at government, society and beliefs.

Few of the scenes and one-liners are done well and entertains the audience. The performance of Vedika Singh as the plaintiff for the namesake case is spontaneous and memorable. Other actors also fit the role. The weak link is the script itself which doesn’t have much to offer. The dialogues and over-dramatizations coupled with few over-stretched scenes kick the fun out of the play.

The play touches on few serious issues and concerns which are left untold by media and government. The problem is that it fails miserably in connecting with audience. Partly the problem lies with Mumbai audience – it is tough enough for them (us) to visualize a free flowing river and a village. It only becomes tougher (impossible) to sympathize or connect with the cost of development or the cost of our tap water to such villages. But mostly, the problem is with the weak and uninteresting execution.

AglaPlay Verdict: Avoid
AglaPlay Rating: 1/5
Language: Hindi 
Duration: 1 Hour 15 minutes (Approx.)
Writer:  Santosh Tiwari 
Director: Chitransh Pawar
Cast: Santosh Tiwari , 
Vedika Singh, Asif Hussain, 
Reet Kaur, Jitender Singh,  
Naveen Sandhu, Gaurav Singh, 
Shalini Hirani, Neeraj Singh, 
Surabhi Darji 

Below are few relevant links. The whole performance is available on the YouTube channel of director Chitransh Pawar, link provided below.

Complete Play on YouTube

Kashmakash

The play Kashmakash is a gibe at political hypocrisy and opportunism. The protagonist of the play is an honest poor book-binder who is living a hard life with his daughter and wife. In the moment of need, he approaches local politician for help. The politician suggests him to fabricate the story of being a freedom fighter and earn a pension. The poor soul, the hero of our story, agrees to it. The plot gradually unfolds to show the audience merriment, pangs of exploitation and inner-conflicts aka Kashmakash of the family.

The performances of all characters are laudable. The central character is played effortlessly by the common man of the 80s – Aanjan of Wagle Ki Duniya fame. But that is the least expected from seasoned cast of IPTA under the direction of Ramesh Talwar. What this play excels at is the story line. The situations and scenes are written extremely well and are matched perfectly with realistic presentation and paraphernalia. The feelings that the play evokes in the audience are almost palpable. The audience feels sad when for family’s poverty, but also shares the joy and pride of public felicitations.

A motley of all emotions, this one is for everyone! Also, if you have time, ‘Wagle Ki Duniya‘, a famous TV series from late 80s by R K Laxman. The episodes are available on YouTube.

AglaPlay Verdict: A very very good play
AglaPlay Rating: 4/5
Language: Hindi 
Duration: 2 Hours (Approx.)
Writer:  Debasis Majumdar, translation by Santwana Nigam 
Director: Ramesh Talwar
Cast:    Aanjjan Srivastav, 
Sulabha Arya, Avtar Gill, 
Neeraj Pandey/ Vignesh Sinkar, 
Manju Sharma, Ranjana Srivastava, 
Omprakash, Prashant padale, 
Rajeev Jha

Below are a few relevant links, including the YouTube link to Wagle Ki Duniya TV Series.

Other Links
Review at TribuneIndia
Wagle Ki Duniya Wikipedia
Wagle Ki Duniya YouTube