The best review each day will win a meal for two at Vivanta By Taj — Surya. The reviews can be emailed to feedbackcbe@gmail.com by 12 noon the next day. Please mention your full name, address and telephone number. Today’s prize goes to K.V. Siddhartha.
Happy endings
It was a well presented and entertaining play based on the stereo-type soap serials. All members of the cast did their bit very well with Akarsh Khurana (groom’s father) being the highlight of the evening.
The ‘happy ending’ was quite sudden – it just ‘happened’ out of the blue. And how is one meant to read into it? That the groom needed to display his masochismo come to terms with his inadequacies and prove himself to his wife and everybody else? The stage was cramped, but then that’s the tragedy of Coimbatore where you don’t have facilities for staging decent live art programmes. The organisers could have taken that extra effort to introduce the cast properly; perhaps even provided the opportunity for them to meet and mingle with the audience.
All in all, a pleasant evening with the two hours just whizzing by and leaving one with lots to chuckle about on the drive home.
K.V. Siddhartha
R.S. Puram
Melange of emotions
‘Rafta Rafta’ entertained the audience with a nice mélange of joy, frustration, love and quirky jokes. While leaving us in splits with timely puns, the play delivered a profoundly gentle tale in the end. There was an air of nostalgia permeating the play. What started as a drama centred on the couple, slowly encompassed the entire cast as it progressed. The medley of friends, family and bosses made for an appropriate setting where the drama unfolded seamlessly. Although the ending was terse, it ensured that we left the venue feeling gratified.
Gopalakrishnan
Saibaba Colony
Audience connect
The scenario of an Indian wedding was beautifully portrayed, triggering laughter and thought. Opening on a post-wedding party scene of an inter-caste marriage, the show entertained the audience, plying them with humour. From ‘What would people say if there is not enough food in the marriage party?’ to ‘What would people say if the bride doesn’t get pregnant immediately?’ the play said it all about the attitude of people in our country. The elder son thinks of his ‘Daddyji’ as insensitive and critical. Besides humour there were other issues where the audience connected with the characters on stage. The casting was perfect. The ending was rather abrupt as the sudden attitude change in the groom after an awful fight wasn’t justified. Except for that, the two hours went by like minutes. The fest is getting better year after year. Wondering what’s next from Akvarious Productions? I am already looking forward to MPTF 2015!
Shrinithi Mahendran
Avarampalayam
All-in-all Akarsh
Rafta Rafta by Akvarious Productions was an absolute hoot and a great play to kickstart MPTF 2014. The play resonated with the modern-day Indian family even though it dealt with NRIs living in London.
Akarsh Khurana who also directed the well written play along with Tahira Nath was hysterical in his role as the father of a newlywed son. His stage presence and a strong personality portrayed the typical Punjabi flavour, and managed to hold the whole play together.
Although the inexperience of the young actors like Gurinder Pawar who played the brother of the groom was a little off-putting, it was compensated by the elders of the group.
The play ended on a subtle note. On the whole it was a great watch.
It was an evening well spent.
Abhishek Shibu
Karunya Nagar
Family bonds
A light-hearted and fun play through and through. Typically Indian, it captured audience attention right from the plans of using up leftover food to the end with the father’s tears of joy.
While the tone of the play was simple and realistic, it questioned the deeper significance of people’s conduct. Inquisitiveness and back-biting and the damage it can do to people was highlighted with a lavish paint of humour. Adi’s delay in consummating his marriage was the plot. Things resolved with time. Constraint of space that forces family members to live in ‘close’ proximity is also ironically the same reason that that alienates them from the other.
Adi decides to move out and this decision paves way for the bonding of the father-son duo.
PL.Visalakshi
Saibaba Colony
Sensitive but funny
I was not disappointed with the first play of MPTF 2014. Not only did the script handle an extremely sensitive topic in a pragmatic manner, it also made us laugh. The comic timing of the actors, their stage presence and so on made sure there was never a dull moment. Above all, the performances were top notch and polished. Well done.
Swati Agarwal
Nanjundapuram Road