Pensha

Sir, Sir, Sarla, Makarand Deshpande's longest running play is going to be staged on Friday evening in the city. The play opened in 2001 with Anurag Kashyap, Sonali Kulkarni and Makarand. Over the years, Makarand wrote two more parts. In the show at Pune, Sir, Sir...will have part one and a portion from part two in it. The play, which reopened in 2012, now has Sanjay Dadhich, Faisal Rashid, Aahna Kumra and Makarand playing the main roles. Talking about the play, Dadhich says, “I am playing Phanidhar, who is in love with Sarla. Both of them and Keshav are Hindi literature students of Palekar Sir. Sarla is in love with Palekar Sir, but he says that it's ethically wrong and on his insistence, she gets married to another student. Phanidhar is a little angry with Sir saying that he could have help him win Sarla's love.” The play starts with a dream, Phanidhar and Palekar Sir are talking about past memories. At interval point, Sarla comes to meet Palekar Sir and then wha...

A gharial (a fish-eating crocodile) is caught in the floods and swept into a town. After the waters recede, he is stuck in the mud and that's where the people of the town find him. Obviously, they are scared! They want the crocodile to leave the town. But how? The kids of the Delhi Public School, Mohammadwadi, who are watching the enactment of Catch the Crocodile, crane their necks, sit up in their seat, to watch what the gharial is up to. The crocodile is mostly placid, not budging when the town people try their luck to shoo him out. First, comes the policeman. But he is no match for the aquatic reptile. Then comes a wrestler from Benaras. He huffs and puffs, flexes his biceps, making the children giggle and laugh. But the gharial doesn't budge. Out goes the wrestler, and in comes Bittu, the trainer, with his whip. Do you think it scares the croc? Not a bit. Dr Dutta, a vet, decides to tranquilise the gharial with an injection dart. But, the injection loses direction...

Shahi Paharedar, the Hindi-Urdu play, will begin with Hindi poet, scholar, Uday Prakash's quote – Iss Kahani Mein Utna Hi Itihas Jitna Na ki Dal Mein Namak. Directed by Niranjan Pedanekar, the play will premier on Sunday night at the ongoing Pune Natyasattak, theatre festival. Originally written by US-based playwright of Indian origin, Rajiv Joseph, Pedanekar bought rights for the play – Guards at the Taj – and its performances too. This is the second play of Joseph's that Pedanekar will be staging for Pune audience. The first one, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo also premiered at Pune Natyasattak last year. Characters speak When asked what was it that he liked about Joseph's writing, Pedanekar said, “I was trying to get hold of some plays which could be considered new by our audience here. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was one play which came under consideration. I found it to be extremely exciting because there was a strange mixture of absurdity and imag...

Sanjna Kapoor doesn't mince words when it comes to voicing her thoughts on ensuring a shift for the theatre from 'survival' to 'thriving' mode. It's this clarity of thought and expression that Sanjna wants every theatrewallah to embrace. “If you know what your non-negotiables are, you will be able to make more advantageous use of the work that you have done and plan to do, resulting in a deeper impact,” she says. Prioritise and then strategise The conversation that we had on the sidelines of Maharashtra Cultural Centre's annual theatre festival, Rangmahotsav began with us asking her thoughts on behemoths like popular regional TV channel backing and producing Marathi plays and a dish TV having a separate channel for telecasting of experimental and commercial dramas. Is it a good sign? “ Marathi television has been showing recorded commercial plays for many years now. But I have no knowledge of Tata Sky's dedicated channel to theatre so I ...

In my interaction with actor Rasika Agashe, I could find myself nodding every now and then, chuckling at the hypocrisy that we so deeply embrace. Agashe is coming to Pune, her hometown, with her Hindi play, Sat Bhashe Raidas to be staged at 16 th Rangmahotsav, the annual national theatre festival, hosted by Maharashtra Cultural Centre. The play is based on Sant Rohidas/Raidas who questioned caste discrimination. The script of the play was written by Rajesh Kumar, from Lucknow, who submitted it as an entry to Sanhita Manch, a script writing competition organised by Agashe and her husband Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub's cultural venture, Being Association. The question of identity “ Sat Bhashe Raidas is about bout asprushyata (untouchability) and Brahmanvaad (not to be mistaken with anti-Brahminism). Rohidas was Kabir's contemporary and he questioned the hierarchy of caste in 15 th century. We have been having shows of the play in towns and cities like Jamkhed, Nanded, Aura...

Actor Neil Bhoopalam, who plays one of the clowns in The Natak Company’s Hamlet: The Clown Prince, shares his thoughts on performing in different mediums and what it means to be an intelligent performer in present times Neil Bhoopalam sees himself as a performer. But he is also an interesting storyteller and comes up with analogies when asked to describe his work or his preferred medium of work. The actor, who did an impressive job in 24 teleseries, will be in the city on Saturday to take part in The Natak Company’s Shakespeare Comedy Theatre’s play, Hamlet: The Clown Prince. When asked about his thoughts on playing a clown, the actor quips, “I am a clown by nature, so it’s good fun. In our country, we don’t have the culture of clowning. But if you go to Israel or England, it is a proper act, like we have the Ramlila act over here.” Neil plays Fido, a clown, who is not “very bright.” He shares the stage with a few more clowns and one of them is Hamlet played by Vinay Pathak, who ...