"Patte Khul Gaye" - A Theatre Play with Comic Reflection on Hypocritical and Judgmental Nature of our Society
Yesterday, after a long hiatus, TravellingCamera headed out to watch a play. This one was titled "Patte Khul Gaye", produced by Felicity Theatre Group, written and directed by Mr. Rakesh Bedi. It was a foggy winter morning, and we had plans to visit Wildlife photography exhibition by Mr. Akash Das, so we had to get out of the house early-ish. And believe me, it was quite an effort to get out of the quilts and head out on a Saturday morning, when we could as easily have slept the day off.
Considering that the play had veteran actor, comedian, writer, and director, Mr Rakesh Bedi behind it, our expectations from the play were really high. And then we found out that the play also boasted a star-studded cast. While Mr Rakesh Bedi himself was playing a part in the play, other members of the cast included Rupali Ganguly, Anant Mahadevan, Kishwar Merchant, and Avijit Dutt, among other really talented actors.
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The difference between a movie and a play becomes apparent as soon as you watch one play. And when it is a play that has 4 shows per day, you come to appreciate the difference even more. In a movie, you get many takes to do a scene, and then once recorded, the actors do not need to be out for every show, performing at the same level every time. This play had eight shows over this weekend, with the same star cast performing on the same decibel. And in between the shows, Mr Rakesh Bedi also took out time to meet the audience. They barely had half an hour break between the shows, so absolutely no time to rest.
We reached the venue early and took our seats immediately after the matinee show had ended. The show was being held in Kamani Auditorium and the tickets started from Rs 300 per person. For seats with a good view, however, you had to shell out at least Rs. 1000 per person. These were the tickets that we had bought.
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Before I finally go into the details of the play, let me also talk a bit about the Felicity Theatre Group. This is a theatre group founded by Mr Rahul Bhuchar and the theatre group also runs theatre classes. They give opportunities to their students to perform alongside celebrity theatre actors during their plays. They are coming up with some good plays in February and March, so keep watching book my show if you are interested in theatre.
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Coming back to their play "Patte Khul Gaye", the play started with a family of four (parents with two teenage kids) preparing for a dinner party in the planned for the evening. And a few things became apparent right from the first scene onward - Rupali Ganguly is in her Monisha avatar and as capable of bringing her to life on stage as she was on television, there were going to be quite a few laughs during the play, and that Anant Mahadevan will probably be under-utilized.
![After a long time, I visited National School of Drama. My cousin was visiting me and we didn't want to spend the day outside because of scorching sun. This time, I didn't watch any play during Summer Theatre Festival, so it was a good opportunity to visit NSD and watch 3:30pm show of Ghasiram Kotwal. Indu and Sumit were very excited to watch first theatre play. This PHOTO JOURNEY shares some photographs from this play, along with some information about the play, directors, writer, cast, music and lighting.Ghashiram Kotwal is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 as a response to the rise of a local political party, Shiv Sena , in Maharashta. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. Based on the life of Nana Phadnavis, one of the prominent ministers in the court of the Peshwa of Pune. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless. It was first performed on 16 December 1972, by the Progressive Drama Association in Pune . Jabbar Patel production of the play in 1973 is considered a classic in Modern Indian Theatre. You can know more about this classic Indian theatre play, check out -Director of the play, Mr Rajindra Nath has taught English Literature in Rajdhani College. As a policy, born out of conviction, has produced only Indian Plays. Important productions include plays by Vijay Tendulkar, C T Khanolkar, G P Deshpande, Debasis Majumdar, Manoj Mitra, Madhu Rye, Mohan Rakesh, Bhishma Sahani and Girish Karnad.This play is written by Vijay Tendulkar who started his playwriting career in 1940, initially for college societies and later for the Mumbai group Rangayan. An important contemporary playwright, he has to his credit a large body of work including 40 plays. Amon his plays are - Shantata, Court Chalu ahe, which received Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Award 1970, Ghasiram Kotwal and Maus Nawache bet. Vijay Tendulkar received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for playwriting in 1970 and Padam Bhushan in 1984.Among his well known screenplays are Nishant, Manthan, Akrosh and Samna. Shanawaz acted in the role of Ghasiram, Suresh Sharma enacted Nana's role. Ayaz Khan and Akhil Pratap were awesome sutradhar of the play. Sajida played Ganeshji, Titas Dutta played Saraswati and Lakshmiji by Reena Saini. Gulabi is played by Daksha Sharma. Cast of Ghasiram Kotwal includes - Manish Kumar, Deep Kumar, Jaganath Seth, Saju Roy, Rajib Kalita, Mohan lal sagar, Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Ramakant Sakhram Bhalerao, Raunak Kha, Navneet Pandey, Raju Roy, Ipshita Singh, Shweat Mandar, Moti Lal Khare, Mohd. Burhan, Anamika, Sajida, Niyati Rathod, Titas Dutta, Sarika Prateek, Ankita Gosain ....Play starts with Ganesh Vandana. After Ganesh vandana the sutradhar and the chorus dressed as Brahmins, sarcastically describe the highly degenerated and hypocritical conditions of the society during the rule of Peshwa chiefman Nana Phadnavis.Next time, whenever NSD repertory plans this play, I would recommend you to watch this and enjoy](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ2n0Hyy6N6VyejiSuuUwqiEFOjkmHXXsycnC85_zRX7Kfoqzp71R1npOQrlH3qqcUfoz-KrdgtZfJc9pz6mWVs5Rv54k5LEMnUYByy60ND0kI0BWumdyvbo-3arIwlDPitMrsObmVz8/w200-h121/Ghasiram+Kotwal+-+A+brilliant+play+during+Summer+Theatre+Festival+2015+at+National+School+of+Drama+-+Delhi%252C+India-2.jpg)
The role of Dr Manoj Rai is one-dimensional that the one moment towards the end when he makes fun of his friend (which he delivers flawlessly) seems quite out-of-character for his character. It ends of looking more like an anomaly than a natural progression for his character, as opposed to Rupali Ganguly's outburst towards the end when she takes on the upper-class lady Shirin and debates with her about her perceptions of middle-class. That outburst is a deviation from her otherwise sarcastic character, but still appears natural. Her characters is passionate and this passionate debate does not seem implausible in that light. The deviation in Anant Mahadevan's character on the other hand seems implausible.
![On second day of Bharat Rang Mahotsav, we choose to go for 'Grotowski - An Attempt to Retreat' which was presented by Chorea Theatre Association from Lodz, Poland. Let's have a quick Photo Journey of this play during second day of Bharangam 2012 (Kamani Auditorium)..This play started with a small talk by it's Director Tomasz Rodowics, who started telling about his interaction with Grotowski and influence of his questions in the play. Setup on the stage was sort of unique and I had never seen such setup in Indian Theatre, which doesn't mean that it was better but of-course different. Especially it was good for Photography, as background wrapped with transparent polythene sheet look amazing in final resultsAs per director of this play - 'This play as an experiment is both exciting and risky: ‘Jerzy Grotowski – the greatest revolutionary of the 20th century, if we talk about theatre’. I am coming back to Grotowski after so many years partly as a result of my protest against what has been done to this person and partly because I feel I owe him something – as a human being, but most of all as an artist. Having seen his Apocalypsis cum figuris in 1974, I decided I have to do theatre – with no possibility of retreat. Today I feel I need to confront his practical achievements, his thoughts related to the theatre, man and religion. I do not want to achieve it through more recollections, conferences or seminars but through the practical experience of people who want to deal with theatre and need to know if they are somehow related to him or not. Is this a closed door or maybe there is a scratch, a mark, anxiety, taint and heritage to be confronted in order to see if you are worth it or if you should stand up to it areject it?Tomasz Rodowics started working on this project with people who, because of their age, had no contact with Grotowski, his para-theatrical and theatrical practice, the ‘art as a vehicle’ period, his actors or anyone who worked with him. What they knew about him is just as much as an average young person does – almost nothing. In most cases, they kept their distance. It was more of a moderate interest than fascination. For them, this man, who turned the world theatre upside down, was a strange, historical and archived cultural figure. It was a perfect starting point. Those people were ready, without any ideology or bias, to start checking who or what he was for them. Each actor/performer tried finding an answer to a question which was important to them, e.g. how does Grotowski’s image of an actor relate to the pro-egocentric education provided by modern theatre schools? Can you ‘refer’ to Grotowski while looking for your own personal identity? To what extent are his rules valid in a mental asylum? Can you cre theatre/performance without wanting to be an actor? Most probably, any other group of people would ask different questionsPlay started with some introduction about each role in terms of their habits, likings, things they do, how they live, life around them, family etc. Each character is different on various parameters. Each actor in the play was awesome in a way they presented the character. Each of them got a slot of conveying the questions with other artists around him/her to support the overall environmenThere were very limited props on the sets. Different posture with appropriate expressions and background music was main media of conveying the thoughts and questionCast of this play includes - Joanna Chmielecka, Julia Jakubowska, MaÅ‚gorzata LipczyÅ„ska, Janusz Adam Biedrzycki, Piotr Grabowski, PaweÅ‚ Korbus, Tomasz Rodowic'Grotowski - A Attmpt to Retreatmpt to Retreat' is a play for Chorea which is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Six young actors from the group reached for Grotowski, since he harmonized with their sense of alienation and disorientation. The play contains many confessions verging on exhibitionism, a lot of physical extremism, fighting with the body, and the desperate search for communication through movement. (courtesy - http://in.bookmyshow.com/events/Grotowski---An-Attempt-to-Retreat-/ET00008612 The young artists in this play struggle with one another and use quotes from Grotowski's works to talk about their own maladjustment. The most intimate interlude is constituted by the recollections of Tomasz Rodowicz, who talks about a night once spent with Grotowski in a hospital in Chicago. It was a crucial moment... a moment of questioning the certainties, throwing off the balance. 'More...' Check out about director of this play at - http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomasz_Rodowicz . But it's in Polish I guess.Each actor of the was extremely flexible and I was wondering if all these Theatre people are so flexible physically and mentally. So far I have seen some of the NSD actors in completely different type of roles, where they needed to dance, sing and do lots of other things. After a short discussion with one of the pass-out from National School of Drama, I got to know that basic things about Dance, Music, design are tought to each actor during the course but at times, they spend lot of time in learning new skills for a particular production. There are some plays where actors had to learn marshal arts as well. And a pure theatre demands lot of such experiments and learning over a period of time.At times expressions of these actors were unimaginably perfect, even when they had just moved from one scene to other. And appropriate music in the background made this an amazing play to watch during Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2012 !!One of the amazing actor of this play who was acting like a person who fumble while saying something and the way he delivered various words during the play was awesome. In fact, many of his dialogs were extremely good and funny. I think he is the one who got maximum claps during the play..Each actor in the play was unique and extremely talented, although many of the theatre people may have seen some flaws.Choera group has drwan inspiration from ancient tradition. Researching th srources of dance and music, it explores the culture of antiquity, and pioneers innovative, dynamic performances presenting the confluence of traditional art and modern theatrical forms. This is how Bharangam brochure described Chorea Theatre Group, Poland.Eminent theatre actress Uttra Baokar presenting flowers and momento to Director of 'Grotowski - A Attempt to Retreat' after completion of the show at Kamani Auditoum, Delhi, India.With this, time is to wait for Saurabh Shukla's RED HOT which is in huge demand and all tickets have already been booked. Let's see if we would be able to bring you a Red and Hot Photo Journey from Kamani tomorrow...](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxBjAqA6jm_4Q4hMKRx3e9-QfetuPHX9TPhlsYi_Fb7HQ_SBHogPvr4PRvjUIPyRHqd3f8MiNMfeiYNi5_8ZTSt3fXVO4MJS3by_zJudLT3qjhml-CpH7Yd-Ckj8JhNvcwo9KC2wirG5N/w200-h118/Grotowski+-+An+Attmpt+to+Retreat%252C+Directed+by+Tomasz+Rodowicz%252C+CHOREA+Theatre+Association%252C+Lodz%252C+Poland%252C+14th+Bharat+Rang+Mahotsav++%25281+of+15%2529.jpg)
The theme of the play revolves around the skeletons we all keep hidden in our cupboards, until that unforeseen moment, the turning point, when they come tumbling out. The script is quite brilliant in bringing about that turning point. I will not reveal more, but I feel that the script handled this very well.
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Another aspect that the script handled with nuance (and really, one expects nothing less from Mr Bedi) was balancing out heavy moments with comic relief. His own character, the shayar "Akela", is the comic backbone of this play. And he brings it to life with perfection.
I do have two peeves with the script. First, at many places it relies on cliched bucketing of society, that of men and women and the cliched perception of their roles in the society, for laughter. As a result, you hear dialogs like "Tum auraton ko...." many times. And all women characters, including the once-a-successful-model Shirin, are housewives and attend Kitty Parties. They are also portrayed as jealous, gossipy, and shopaholics. On the other hand all men are out having extramarital affairs, being henpecked at home, and earning bread and butter for family. And this is portrayed as a typical middle class home. In doing this, it just adds to the constant patriarchal narrative we desperately need to break out of. The token reference to homosexuality and section 377 too are more in the vein of "Dostana" than "Kapoor and Sons". That said, the fact that the person who is exposed to be homosexual remains unapologetic or unashamed about it was refreshing. Second, the narrative about hypocrisy in the middle class of our society sounds imposed. It can be simplified to just "hypocrisy in Indian society".
Overall the play is funny, tight, and focused, and we would definitely recommend it in case you are looking for a good way to spend your evening. Performance-wise, all actors do full justice to their characters, including the student actors and the actors for whom, this is their debut play. Especially keeping in mind the back-to-back shows on consecutive days.
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