Two plays from Bhadrakali Productions takes its tally to almost 20 since the passing of its founder Macchindra Kambli, the resolute Tatya Sarpanch of Vastraharan , in 2007. As has been the case with plays recently showcased by the production house, the latest plays, Soyare Sakal and Gumnam Hai Koi, straddle disparate genres. The former is a swirling return-to-roots saga and the latter is a female-led psychological thriller. Sweeping awards as well as wowing audiences, the plays tap into the pulse of the urban Maharashtrian middle class for whom outings to the theatre continue to remain in vogue.
Family saga
Not to be confused with Sunita Deshpande’s similarly named 1998 book on Kumar Gandharva, Soyare Sakal is a semi-autobiographical script written by physician-turned-writer Sameer Kulkarni and directed by Aditya Ingale. It is an inter-generational tale, large swathes of which are set in the 1980s, and the title, inspired from an abhanga by Tukaram, alludes to the interconnectedness of all beings. Bhadrakali’s earlier Sangeet Devbhabhali was a musical set in Tukaram’s household, and its spiritual echoes resound in this new work, as embodied by the statue of the family deity that is a telling centrepiece of a play with socio-religious underpinnings. Kulkarni sets the play in an upper-caste Deshpande household in Ahmednagar, where the US-based professor Shaunak (Aashutosh Gokhale), a veritable prodigal son, returns to visit his grandmother, Sindhu (Aishwarya Narkar).
Actors in the production play multiple parts, with Narkar essaying both her younger and older selves. Central to the drama is Shaunak’s alienation from his traditions and past. When confronted with his grandfather’s possessions — gramophone records and old writings in a trunk — he embarks on a journey of self-discovery under the guidance of the omniscient Sindhu, in whose person the play’s philosophies and metaphors converge.
Dual rhythms
“The generation today has a use-and-throw attitude, they do not preserve relationships in the manner that might have taken place in the past,” says producer Prasad Kambli, of one of the play’s underlying ideas. Soyare Sakal ’s time-shifting set-design has been created by the prolific Pradeep Mulye, who has been responsible for the lavish sets of other period pieces like Chandrakant Kulkarni’s recent productions of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Wada Trilogy . It is a play of two halves, set in Sindhu’s current household in an urban milieu and the rural mansion where she once lived with her husband. Ingale has spoken about working with dual languages and rhythms of performance that ultimately the play seamlessly synthesises. Since opening in December last year, the play has completed more than 50 shows, the kind of numbers that can be considered par for the course when it comes to Marathi commercial theatre.
Fractured psyche
Gumnam Hai Koi, which opens the following week, is named for the Lata Mangeshkar melody from its 1960s cinematic namesake. It is written by Shilpa Navalkar, and directed by Mangesh Kadam. Known to non-Marathi audiences for her breakout performance in Amol Palekar’s Kairee (2001), Navalkar has since chalked up a busy résumé in television as both actor and writer, and this is her second play after 2016’s Selfie , which focused on the lives of five spirited modern women. In this new effort, actor Madhura Velankar, a top draw in Marathi cinema, plays a best-selling novelist whose fractured psyche, a remnant of a life-altering accident, lends the play its moody intrigues. “What attracted me the most to the play, was the effective portrayal of the protagonist’s psychological complexities. Her detachment from her house, which by extension [can be seen as] a detachment from her family, has been personified by the setting itself,” says director Kadam. The set design, once again by Mulye, features both the claustrophobic interiors of the novelist’s home, and its sinister garage outside. This is a genre the production house has dabbled in previously with productions like Ha Shekhar Khosla Kon Ahe , directed by Vijay Kenkre, which also featured Velankar.
Soyare Sakal will stage at Ram Ganesh Gadkari Rangayatan, Thane on July 6 and Adya Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke on July 7; more details at bookmyshow.com. For Gumnam Hai Koi check listings next week.
