Divya Veluguri wins the prize for her review of Dear Liar staged on the concluding day of ‘The Hindu Theatre Fest 2016’. She wins a ‘Meal for Two’ at the ITC Kakatiya.
Enchanting artistry
No one needs an introduction to the talents of Naseeruddin Shah or Ratna Pathak Shah, but despite going in with high expectations, I could not help but marvel at their ability to enchant the audience for an entire two hours! Every dialogue had me leaning forward in my seat, waiting for every word, and their visible intimacy and chemistry left us all charmed. Ratna Pathak Shah’s imitation of Eliza Doolittle was so naturally graceful that it has left me with a deep desire to watch them perform Pygmalion . Dear Liar was a captivating journey through lives in wit and despair, friendship and loss, youth and infirmity and through time.
-Divya Veluguri, Hafeezpet
Expert jugalbandi
This was not theatre! This was a jugalbandi of the highest class rendered by two extremely talented individuals completely familiar with the depth of each other’s talent.
Through a mildly flirtatious alaap , to a jor that blossomed in the rustling of letters to the bandish that had us travelling through time, cherishing a relationship we could perfectly relate to. And then as we were expecting the jhala , a poignant dhun , instead, took us to the end of a remarkable performance.
Or was there an end at all?
-Kunal Mukherjee
Flattered to deceive
I had gone to the play Dear Liar with very high expectation but came away disappointed. I can understand that there was no real plot but it unfolded in a very obtuse manner. Some of the humour was forced and so was a the laughter around me. Ratna Pathak’s histrionics were a bit overdone. Too highbrow without significant substance. Flattered to deceive, would be very verdict.
-Vivek Mundra
Letters in age of social media
Watching Dear Liar in the age of Social Media can be unnerving. Letters and humans - a once-passionate relationship that went extinct by the impersonal forces of electronic communication - have just been thrown back together. How can we have the faintest idea of what to expect?
We see the finest actors of our times - Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah - relive the feisty times when people made love through words and words alone. They stoke our long-forgotten appetites. We walk out enchanted, unsure if our hungers would ever get satiated.
-Venky Ramachandran, Kondapur
Sizzling act
What happens when the country's most celebrated theatre couple enact the characters of George Bernard Shaw, one of the best playwrights in the English language and Mrs. Campbell, a leading stage actress of his times?! Well, the stage sizzles and how!!
From the time Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah made an impressive entry on the stage until the very end, the audiences sat in rapt attention hanging on to every word spoken.
Having seen Naseeruddin act in several Bollywood films in the past in some of the best and worst films, I always came away with the feeling that he elevated the film he acted in, merely by his presence. His performance on stage last night, however will forever remain the best, I'm sure! He brought Shaw and all his quirks to life so perfectly that I will forever now think of Shaw as Shah! Ratna Pathak Shah as Mrs Campbell was a perfect foil to Shah’s Shaw with her coquettish ways and silly indulgences!
-Sunita Reddy, Banjara Hills
Lives of celebrities
Two important historical personalities played by two of the most venerated actors of our time. The plot is encapsulated in a single line of the play itself: “that of a married man having an affair with a woman who is engaged to be married to another”.
But, it is a relationship whose strength lies in the friendship that lasts a lifetime. Effortless performances made light of the lengthy, verbose dialogues and often lent an air of a contemporary time-frame. Brief punctuations of music brought the time-line back into perspective. Restrained use of emotions, and restrained language, again, to portray those intense underplayed emotions offer such a stark contrast to current productions.
-A. Sanjukta Ghosh, Neredmet
Peerless performance
This fascinating story of Love-Hate relationship between Mr. GBS and Mrs. Campbell was played wonderfully well.
The acting of consummate actors Mrs. and Mr Shah was truly incomparable and peerless .
The play alternates between narration and flashback modes very effectively and keeps the attention of audience riveted on to the stage.
Surely one cannot forget many jewelled nuggets of words so powerfully delivered by the duo; one still ringing in my ears is “The great battle of life is not fought in its youth but in its old age.”
- Sunil Gupta, South Lalaguda
Peek into Shaw’s life
The subtle and intelligent humour coupled with brilliant acting and dialogue delivery made my day. I loved how the actors paused perfectly while delivering dialogues and left the audience in splits of laughter. There was so much happening in a play with just two characters! I’ve read a few plays by George Bernard Shaw, and liked how there were glimpses of those in Dear Liar , the cockney accent part was acted out so flawlessly! But, what was most refreshing was how the play gave us insight into GBS’s life as a person, and not just a playwright.
-Tanvi Mathur, Gachibowli
Engaging love story
The Shah couple recreated the playwright-actress duo with tremendous elan and perfection on the stage. Their relationship resembles, in many aspects, the one between professor Higgins and Eliza dolittle from Shaw's social satire - Pygmalion . Especially mention-worthy were the accents replicated by the actors.
The play had plenty in humour, self-absorption of the characters, and the emotions of an ageing actress and an anxious and later grieving mother.
- Vidya, Yousufguda
Back to history
When the actors made their entry the reception by the audience showed their eagerness, and the response of the actors is what I enjoyed most. The way the Shahs took the audience back in time to depict the story made for an equally interesting note. The way the relationship between George Bernard Shaw and Mrs Patrick Campbell changed, the communication between them with wit and humor, was all enacted by the actors till the end of the play.
No wonder the audience applause was loud when the actors greeted the audience after their performance.
-G. Aruna Kumar, Sudarshannagar
Eternal appeal
‘In fifty years, people will be living on air. No one will reads books' says Stella, in one scene and yet, here we were, at least a thousand of usw, watching a play about a writer who has been dead for over half a century. With lines that force you to sit up and hang on to each word, this is a play that is as heart warming as it is funny. The performance of the actors made you feel like you were a voyeur, listening in on private household conversations - such was the chemistry. Charming and delightful, in a nutshell.
-Shubhashree Sangameswaran, Madinaguda
Fitting finale
What a fitting finale to the 2016 theatre fest! Both Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah brilliantly brought the two characters of Bernard Shaw and Stella Campbell alive on the stage. The play was par excellence in every aspect be it the script, dialogues, set, lighting , music and above all, the direction.
The play ‘Dear Liar’ brought back memories of a Hindi play Tumhari Amrita played by late Fahrookh Sheikh and Shabana Azmi.
-Ravi Meenu, Trimulgherry
The Hindu Theatre Fest 2016
The Title Sponsor of the event is YES BANK. The Associate Sponsor is Telangana Tourism. The gift partner is Terra Earthfood. The Radio Partner is Chennai Live 104.8. The Merchandise Partner is Focus Art Gallery and the Event Manager is evam.
