Macbeth – What is Done is Done

This is the third imaginative, comical ‘clown’ theme adaptions of Shakespeare plays. The original tragedy is a story of power, greed, betrayal and consequences. Whether you know about the original play or not, is immaterial, as the tragedy of Macbeth is narrated in the first scene itself. What follows is a dark, involving comedy with the clowns as characters. The themes move across the evils that haunt humanity today, as Macbeth was about the evils that haunted the royal class then. Women-safety, racism, greed – even today’s political situation – are jibed at.

Rajat’s witches talk not only of the macabre or the future. They also scorn at our mobile phone uses. Macbeth is changed to Macky B, with a painted face, has a courtroom full of jokers. But mistake not, this Macky B is still haunted by the ghost of Banquo and still paints with the blood of innocents.

Rajat Kapoor does a marvelous job yet again as director. Picking up the underlying themes from the original and creates a whole new experience for audience. The creative freedom is used judiciously where the play borders on the right amount of comedy and darkness. Vinay Pathak as Spanish clown Pedro does an amazing job. Then there is Kalki and Tillotama Shome who put up a great show. Jim Sarbh as Julio is comical, sharp and is fun to watch.

A must watch, this play is easily among the most enjoyable plays around. The play has its shortcomings and may not be liked by certain audience due to the aberrations from the original. With them I will agree, but then, it was never supposed to be! Ranvir Shorey’s portrayal of Macbeth (sorry, Macky B) could have been better, but here again, I cannot judge him as I have not read/watched the original.

AglaPlay Verdict: Must Watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: English, Gibberish
Duration: 1 Hour 30 minutes (Approx.)
Writer:  Rajat Kapoor 
Inspired from: Shakespeare / Macbeth  
Director: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Vinay Pathak (Pedro), 
Ranvir Shorey (Macky B),
Kalki  Koechlin (Witch & more),
Jim Sarbh (Julio), 
Tilotama Shome 
& Others

Below are few relevant links. 

Play trailer 
Review on IndiaWest.com
Macbeth Complete Play [Original, contemporary English]

Ek Mamuli Aadmi

The play tells the story of last few years of Ishwar Chand, a retired man, who recently died. When his son tries to invite his father’s colleagues for the funeral, he receives the rude responses. Even the priest is not interested in attending to the rites. The son is in shock. After all, his father was a common man! What can a common man do to cause angst to so many people? Especially when the departed was such a simpleton as his dad. What is even more surprising that while even the dead’s colleagues excused themselves from attending final rites, there is crowd of seemingly unknown people who have come to pay a final visit. What can a common man do to inspire such respect from so many people? The play answers these questions and more by switching between Ishwar’s flashbacks and his office colleagues’ accounts, as the audience and Ishwar’s son learn about his father he never knew.

The play excels on all parameters. The portrayal of Ishwar by Aanjjan Srivastav is done so well that audience fails to differentiate between the performer and the character. Other characters also act very well, especially Niraj Pandey.

The play is a must watch and among the best performances in Mumbai theatre with an engaging script and tight screenplay. The play evokes complete spectrum of emotions and is highly recommended.

AglaPlay Verdict: Must Watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: Hindi 
Duration: 2 Hours (Approx.)
Writer:  Ashok Lal 
Director: Raman Kumar
Cast: Aanjjan Srivastav (Ishwar), 
Pramod Dubey,
Nivedita Baunthiyal,
Shivkant Lakhanpal, 
Akbar Khan, Niraj Pandey
& Others

Below are few relevant links. The play is inspired from Japanese movie ‘Ikuru’ whose trailer link is also provided. 

Play performed by IIM Lucknow 
Review on HT [Potential Spoilers]
Ikuru (1952) Movie Trailer

Bali aur Shambhu

‘Bali aur Shambhu‘ tells story of two roommates in an old-age home. Shambhu who was staying alone in his room for long. When Bali comes to stay in the same room, Shambhu does not take this ‘encroachment’ well. The solitude of cantankerous Shabhu is further disturbed by Bali’s endless banters. Many (funny) verbal fights ensue between the two, resulting in a relationship which can pass as friendship. Both have some happiness and some sorrows from the past. What is it that they are hiding? What are their sorrows which really haunt these two roommates?

The play is a masterpiece. The play is very well written, supported by strong execution by the cast. The director-writer Manav Kaul deserves appreciation for bringing such plays which are not only entertaining, but also talk of the issues which concern old age people. The contrasting characters are developed well through the play. The duration and timings are just so well-balanced! The music and lighting during dance sequences is apt and fits beautifully as reminiscence of old times.

This is an amazing play which delivers a beautiful story performed by two veteran actors – Sudhir Pandey and Kumud Mishra. This play is rather low-key, with not many performances and publicity. I just hope that this is taken up for more shows, because this play definitely deserves that. The play will be good even for younger audience, who may not connect wholly with the pain of characters but will enjoy Shambhu’s mischief and Balu’s banters!

AglaPlay Verdict: Must Watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 Hour 30 Minutes 
Writer: Manav Kaul
Director:  Manav Kaul 
Cast: Kumud Mishra (Bali),
Sudhir Pandey (Shambhu),  
& Others

Below are a few relevant links. The link to the whole script from Manav’s blog is also provided for those who may not be able to watch live performance.

Other Links
Trailer
Bali OR Shambhu? By The Cast
Play Script

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

Sir Sir Sarla

Sir Sir Sarla play is about internal conflicts playing in minds of a professor and two of his students. Professor Palekar teaches literature (and philosophy). Two of his closest students were Phanidhar and Sarla. Phanidhar continues to stay with his teacher years after graduation while Sarla is married (to another of his students, Keshav). The three characters are in a continuous state of conundrums and doubts. Their actions and philosophies contradict each other several times as the story unfolds. What is it that remains unsaid among the three?

Makrand Deskhpande, who is also the director and the writer of the play has done marvelous job on all fronts. It is a well-written, well-directed performance with good acting. Portrayal of Sarla as a bubbly, moody character is nicely done by Kumra. However, one who aces is Sanjay Dadhich. In his role as Phanidhar, he gets some of the best lines and steals audience attention from the other two characters with his one-liners.

The downside is the long duration of the play which stretches north of 2 hours which is long for this content. There are opportunities of few edits here and there to make the presentation sharper. Overall it is a good play with good performances.

AglaPlay Verdict: Good Play
AglaPlay Rating: 3/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: 2 Hour+ 
Writer: Makarand Deshpande
Director:  Makarand Deshpande 
Cast: Makarand Deshpande (Prof. Palekar),
Sanjay Dadhich (Phanidhar),
Aahana Kumra (Sarla) 
& Others

Below are a few relevant links.

Other Links
Makarand Deshpande on casting and play
Origin of Ansh Group
Interview of Makarand and Aahana
Makarand Deskhpande Wikipedia