It8217;s CELEBRATION Time

affairs at the Prithvi Theatre many years ago,she realised that there was a disconnect between the groups that performed there and people who were associated with the suburban hub. So she channelised her efforts in creating a synergy between both the parties by organising various activities. Thankfully,the efforts paid off and a theatre community comprising performers,aficionados and the management has emerged in the last five to six years. In order to celebrate this group,she came up with the idea of Prithvi Theatre Carnival. The event that celebrated its first edition on February 27 this year saw a huge turnout of actors,directors and theatre aficionados at the suburban hub.

To make the event more interesting actors were asked to present their favourite pieces while directors had to explore what today meant to them and devise a 15-minute performance accordingly in either Hindi,English,Marathi or Gujarati. The event that started off in the morning with the release of the Prithvi Theatre Yearbook Satyadev: Theatre Ke Anokhe Dubey,which chronicled the success story of Padma Shri winner Satyadev Dubey,was followed by a screening of his film Shantata Court Chalu Aahe. Later stalwarts like Nadira Babbar,Sunil Shanbhag, Makrand Deshpande and Satish Kaushik presented their performances with Shaista Begum,The Perfect Man,Auction and Confronting Illusions respectively. Theatre lovers also got an opportunity to watch diverse pieces on the concept of today by directors like Manoj Shah,Akarsh Khurana,Trishla Patel,Sandesh Kulkarni and actors like Sudhir Pande,Irawati Karnik and Jaimini Pathak.

Explaining how she came up with the idea of the day-long fiesta,Sanjna says,Earlier there was a disconnect with the theatre groups,we didnt know what were their dreams but after giving them a sense of inclusion,we have built a community. The carnival was meant to celebrate the fact that all of us may have different views about theatre but the bottom-line is that we are passionate about it and that is what brings us together. Today Prithvi Theatre has become an adda where people come,watch plays,read books or sip a cup of chai. It has become an intrinsic part of the theatre community.

Initially the light-eyed connoisseur was apprehensive about the response the event would garner. She says,I had thought it would be tough to convince everyone,but all of them have been generous. In fact,there were few like Naseeruddin Shah who wanted to perform Shylock from William Shakespeares Merchant Of Venice,Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel who were disappointed that they couldnt make it. We roped in our favourite actors and directors,asked them to either devise a new piece or take a different twist of an existing play and encapsulate within 15 minutes. The only condition was that the subject had to be concurrent with today.

But it was this interesting take that entertained viewers from all walks of life. So while actress Irawati Karnik penned three monologues that take a glimpse into the lives of three young people of today in Kordya Unhatle Updates,veteran Sarita Joshi enacted her journey from early Gujarati bhangwadi theatre to the contemporary era in the one-woman show Jhalak. Manoj Shah,who directed Firewall that explores how technology rules our lives,says,The piece is about two people who are travelling from Mumbai to New York for 20 hours and how they find out about each other during the journey. What intrigued me about the story was that earlier everyone knew each other. But today,we dont even know our neighbours. The whole challenge was to communicate the message to the audience within 15 minutes.

Similarly Jaimini Pathak,who performed in Aaj Ki Baaki Baat,says,Its a compilation in verse of the far-reaching consequences of the sorrows of a young Bengali intellectual based in Kolkata. I play the lead role. It was a lovely challenge to explore the various themes within this short piece. It is the journey of a man who speaks about people and events in his life,how social and political changes have affected him and his views about society,ideology and politics.

The theatre community is happy with the fiesta as they feel it promotes a healthy exchange of cultural ideas. Enthused with the response,Sanjna wants to make the carnival an annual affair. Though the idea will be the same to celebrate with snippets throughout the day I hope it will evolve every year, she says on a parting note.