The child in us

It's strange that The Boy who Stopped Smiling can put a smile on your face. It's stranger that your age doesn't matter -- you could be five ...

It8217;s strange that The Boy who Stopped Smiling can put a smile on your face. It8217;s stranger that your age doesn8217;t matter 8212; you could be five or 50, and your face would still crease into a grin. But then it8217;s a play that talks to you and not at you. What makes this possible is the fact that it is a Grips theatre play 8212; one of the youngest theatre movements started for the young, in Germany, 30-odd years ago. Unlike traditional children8217;s plays, which are marinated in make-believe, the situations depicted by Grips are those that children live through. Says Ramu Ramanathan, writer and director of the play, quot;Grips is theatre of thought. It is very interactive and doesn8217;t patronise children.quot;

Based on the ideology that children are an oppressed class, the plays 8212; where all parts are played by adults, including those of children 8212; always have a message clothed in colour, song and dance. Essentially, a language that engages children completely. And The Boy who Stopped Smiling fits that billperfectly as this one-month-old play has been getting repeat audiences where children sing and mouth the dialogue along with the cast.

The story too is one which audiences can relate to: it8217;s the tale of a little boy, Malhar, who is a chess-obsessed prodigy. Played by Jaimini Pathak, he is seen as a misfit by his family and friends as they cannot understand or adjust to the person he is. Malhar, around eight years old, knows all the great chess matches by heart 8212; as well as things boys his age wouldn8217;t know even when they turned 30 8212; and is preparing for a match with Vishwanathan Anand who is coming to town. Says Ramanathan, quot;Though Malhar is asocial and a little quirky, he is comfortable with who he is.quot; The problem arises when his parents don8217;t understand why he can8217;t be a normal child. And because of the pressure on him to conform, Malhar stops smiling.

Though worried by their son8217;s missing smile, his parents still cannot see that each child has to be dealt with differently. His mother, played byLata Sharma, prays to all the gods in the Hindu pantheon to restore her son to normalcy. She aids them by confiscating his chess board and encyclopedias and even pushes him into a swimming class. His scatterbrained father, played by Shivkumar Subrahmanyam, is just as baffled though not as extreme and takes Malhar to a psychiatrist, played by Joy Fernandes. The Boy8230; came out of a writing workshop, on Grips, that Ramanathan had attended two years ago.

Prodded by Mohan Agashe, he eventually wrote the script. The first draft was read out to gifted children in Pune and Ramanathan also met several child specialists. Then Sanjna Kapoor read the play and wanted to produce it. And the cast comprises the same people who were reading Credit Titles with Ramanathan. quot;Everything just fell in place,quot; he says. Besides the three adults who have managed to play well-rounded personalities instead of stereotypes, the three children8217; 8212; Pathak, Divya Jagdale as his sister, Mallika and Nilufer Uchil as her friend 8212; have donean extremely good job.

Specially Pathak, who has played the role of the misunderstood child beautifully and very convincingly.

A lot of physical exercise was needed for the actors to behave like children. quot;We would just run around, scream, to get comfortable with our bodies the way children are,quot; says Jagdale. An imperative as the actual story did not call for adults playing the children8217;s roles. Says Pathak, quot;Playing children was more an aid to get the message across. You also have to try not to imitate children and that is why I use my real voice.quot; The job was particularly difficult, as children are a discerning audience. quot;They catch on to any falseness and then they won8217;t react or laugh. You cannot fool them,quot; says Jagdale. Also, during the two and half months of rehearsals, people like Naseeruddin Shah, Srirang Godbole, Satyadev Dubey and Agashe kept dropping in to give their suggestions, something which helped the cast a lot.

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The almost two-hour-long play doesn8217;t flag 8212; the pace and energy arekept up by Rajat Dholakia8217;s music. But the biggest round of applause comes when Malhar and Mallika start parenting and punishing their parents who play along. The play finally ends when Malhar runs away to participate in the match where Vishwanathan Anand is playing simultaneously against 60 people.

Most are easy game for the grand master and finally the last player left is Malhar. The match ends in a draw and Malhar returns home with his lost smile back on his face. He had blossomed when he was left on his own.

At the Experimental Theatre, NCPA on June 04 and June 05, 1998. Time: 6.30 pm.