Taste for theatrics

The lights go dim and suddenly a hushed silence overcomes the crowd that has been rooting on endlessly. The velvet curtains go up and the overhead lights swing down to create a fascinating mix of colours. Actors assemble on the stage and the play begins. This scene describes,in the most unadorned words,the atmosphere that gripped students of the nine city colleges that participated in the annual Purushottam Karandak Drama Festival over the weekend.

Right from themes that deal with the implications of having a one-track mind to being able to shed one’s inhibitions and achieve the impossible,they festival had it all. The 47th edition of the festival saw teams from VIIT(Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology),MMCC (Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s College of Commerce),PVG College of Engineering,SIT,MIT College of Engineering,VIT(Vishwakarma Institute of Technology),Sinhagad College of Science,COEP (College of Engineering,Pune) and ILS Law College battling it out in the finals of the competition that was held on Saturday and Sunday. Speaking more about the interesting themes that were showcased this year,Bharat Bhavsar of VIIT,who directed the play Toh Maajhi Vaat Pahat Asel (He will be waiting for me),says,“The play is more of a fantastical take and a slightly abridged version of the original story written by V P Kale. It deals with the life of a wanderer who survives on alms and stays near a cliff,where disillusioned people come to kill themselves. It talks about the hope-faith factor and how it can help alter the thoughts of people.” The play,which is divided into three scenes,deals with the lives of three characters who are convinced into finding that small flame of hope to start over instead of killing themselves,he adds.

One of the performances by the students of MMCC drew particularly large rounds of applause from the audience. The play Farm Ville dealt with the implications of a real and virtual farm. Shivani Kumbhojkar,who played the role of a social worker Madhura in the play and also directed it,says,“The play talks about the Facebook game FarmVille and the addictive nature of the same. It showcases the stark reality that while raising crops on a virtual farm one might run up an internet bill worth thousands and the same amount of money is the reason why farmers in the real world commit suicides.” It basically questions the merging of the virtual and modern world and the implications of the same on the real world,she adds.

The play Zhaapad (Blinders) by the students of VIT was an interesting take on the topic of re-inventing oneself to achieve the impossible. It also dealt with a very mature topic of two childhood lovers separated by circumstances and their eventual elopement from the bonds that tie them down. Director Praful Lakhe says,“The story talks about two childhood lovers,of which one is married off to the village Patil (the antagonist of the play).” He adds,“The play showcases how the boy in the story finally manages to overcome his own demons and becomes confident of himself. And the fact that he loves the girl and eventually elopes with her forms the backbone of the narration. He takes off the blinders that have prevented him from understanding his true characteristics and have tied him down.”