Aunty’s New Avatar

Last week,yet another adaptation of Moruchi Mavshi was staged at Bharat Natya Mandir in a competition of nine theatre groups from Satara,Baramati,Wai and Pune. The play,which won the first prize,will represent Pune at the finals of the 53rd Maharashtra State Theatre Competition,to be held in Mumbai next month. The final competition will have 10 groups from five districts of Maharashtra — Pune,Nagpur,Ratnagiri,Aurangabad and Mumbai.

Ashutosh Nerlekar,director of the latest adaptation that was produced by Bharat Natya Sanshodhan Mandir,says,“Though we wanted to present a newer version of the play,given its iconic status,we didn’t want to change its original sensibilities. However,in order to strike a chord with today’s audience,we introduced several new elements.” While the traditional-looking set is replaced by one with bright colours and modern lighting,beat-heavy music has taken over classical music.

“In the earlier version,the aunt wears a sari but we have shown her in a gown. But nothing looks out of place. For instance,the reason Bandya wears a gown is because in his theatre group,he portrays the role of Hamlet’s mother,and a gown is the only costume he carries for his play rehearsals,” says Nerlekar.

Vishwas Pangarkar,who plays the lead character of Bandya,feels when a man portrays a woman in a play or a film,it is easy to border on vulgarity. “As an actor,I make sure that if my wife or my mother are sitting in the audience,they don’t feel embarrassed seeing me as a woman. We took efforts to make mavshi look as believable as possible,” says the actor,who also won the best actor award during the semi-final round held in the city.