After a grueling week, having fought bugs 24/7 I was longing for a break. All week I had to kill S/W bugs in the office and to add to the woes, back home I had sleepless nights, courtesy - bed bug infested mattress. It was a tiresome week and I was hoping to lay down the whole week end. All of a sudden I realised that we(me n my roomies) had asked the guy from pest control to cum over to our place. He was at our door right on time. After inspecting our home closely, he stirred sum chemicals together and promised us that the magic potion would rid our home of the bed bugs. Little did v realise that our house would b a mess, ( its been a week since this happened and v still haven't been able 2 set it right). The smell of the potion that was being sprayed was pungent(n potent too) enough to scare a skunk away, forget us!! After all this, I realised that there was no way that I could relax over the week end. So, now was the time to cum up with sum ingenious idea to while away my time.
I had compiled a huge list of places to visit n things to do @ B’lore sum time ago, like visiting the museum, planetorium, WonderLa...... Believe me, the list is pretty comprehensive. It should take me no lesser than a couple of years 2 to strike down all of them. But the one thing that caught my attention that particular day was ‘RangaShankara’. As this place was just a few yards away from my place, the thought of watching a play here needed no deliberation from an eternal indolent like me. I was not sure abt the kind of plays that r performed here. I had never watched a play. I was a bit reluctant, as I had a rather insipid palate towards fine arts. My closest shot at acting was when I played in a drama “Elves n the Shoemaker” in my primary. No prizes for guessing what my role was. Thanks to my height, I was an elf ;-)
Well, that morning me n N. Man (roomie) went to RangaShankara. The board at the foyer said that “ Bhikre Bimb” a play written by Girish Karnad was being played. Now this almost scared me, I wasn’t sure if I could handle a play written by a Jnanapith awardee. As I was trying 2 figure out the meaning of the word “Bimb”, I saw Girish Karnad cum down the stairs. Well, he was clad in an attire that I had envisioned every theater artist or an author in. He was in the stereotypical Kurtha pyjama. I wanted to get a snap of mine with him, but to my dismay I was in my shorts n Tee’s n wasn’t sure if I should approach a man of his stature so scantily clad :-). V looked into the details of the play, n to make things worse, Arundati Nag was playing the role of the protagonist. Now I was sure that this was not 4 lesser mortals like me. But the one thing that caught my attention was the duration of the play. It said 70 minutes. I have watched innumerable stupid movies that lasted more than 3 hrs in the theaters, the most recent one being Avatar( no apologies to all the James Cameroon fans out there). This was one chance that I could afford to take. It was midday and the show was to start at 7:30 PM.
V were at the theatre at 7:15. The crowd was pretty descent. I actually did not expect a crowd that big. It was a pretty descent mix of youth n the aged. I started feeling a bit comfortable. I had a quick bite at the café in there(an exorbitantly priced Vada Paav). There was a bell 5 mins prior 2 the start of the play n v were kind of ‘summoned’ into the theatre. V sat in the last row, guess sum things just don’t change!!:-)). At 7:30 sharp, A.Nag walks on the stage and started speaking. I was a bit confused. I wasn’t sure if she was addressing the crowd or playing her role. It took me a couple of minutes to realise that the play had begun. I was watching one of the finest theatre artist perform. She was the protagonist(Manjula Nayak). Manjula Nayak is an author, who had just cum back to India after winning the Booker prize. I thought that there would b atleast a few more people donning other roles, but soon realised that A.Nag was the only one to walk the stage.
This play was all about emotions, precision n passion. The play was all about M.Nayak’s conversation with her conscience. This is how the set looked like. There were a few LCD screens, a table n a chair on the stage. In one of the screens u see an other M.Nayak(the conscience) speaking to the real M.Nayak who is seated on the chair. It was a conversation that takes off pretty amicably. Well, I said that this play was all about precision bcoz, the part played by M.Nayak who was speaking on the screen was pre recorded. So, had A.Nag been even slower by a second, they would have been out of sync. But I soon realised that she could not afford to b even a second faster!!! . There was scene where, A.Nag on the screen and the A.Nag on the stage give each other a Hi 5. The timing had to b so precise, n I could not help but wonder at the amount of practice that must have gone in, to maintain this pin point accuracy. Also, doing this without retakes unlike our heroes on the screen is an amazing task. sI know all this is confusing, A Nag on the screen n A.Nag on the stage!!!. I have already gone bonkers trying to put it in words.(am sure ur plight is worser!!!)
As the conversation is all about M.Nayak’s relationship with her Husband Mr. Murthy n her younger sister Malini Nayak (who is immobile below her waist). Initially, it looks like everything btn M.Nayak n the other 2 characters r fine, except 4 a few hiccups here n there. But as the conversation muvs ahead, v realise that the things were a lot more graver. The conversation also unveils the multitude of facades that M.Nayak had donned over the years. The initial part of the conversation was laced with sum subtle humour, but as the conversation moved on it grew graver. Towards the end as M.Nayak is stripped of her façade it was a riot of emotions...treachery, jealousy, seething anger, back stabbing, confusion, repentance, agony......It was a play that forced me to do sum bit of soul searching....I realised that v all muv with facades like the one M.Nayak had donned....well, this was an enriching play.
I deliberately haven’t delved much into the story line of the play, coz it is beyond my ability to do so. It needs the artistry of a person like Girish Karnad. Well, now I realise the the mettle n caliber of a Jnanapith winner. The acoustics in the theater was awesome. The audience were spell bound n were seated rapt in attention through out the play. Towards the end of the play A.Nag was greeted with standing ovation. She performed like a ROCKSTAR. Just cannot fathom sum one speaking(n acting) at length for 70 minutes. At the foyer of the building there is a huge poster with different emoticons(cartoons) that portray different expressions like fear, jealousy, anger, laughter etc. This play was wrought with all of these. All I can say is that this one is a must watch play. I have now promised my self to watch atleast one play every month. But, then I have never kept promises :-). To top it all, I have a new Hindi word in my vocabulary, the word “Bimb”. If u guys want to know what it means, u got 2 watch this play!!!
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