SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2024
Pio Esteves
Day 3 of Kala Academy’s 49th Tiatr ‘A’ Group Competition was a witness to tiatr ‘Map Bhoron Votlem’ written by William Fernandes, directed by Sanket Bhandari and presented by Drishti Entertainments, Curchorem.
The curtains unfold to a scene wherein Sinoshka (Shania D’Costa) clears her final studies in Law and wishes to follow in the footsteps of her father Robert (Desmond Cardozo), who is a lawyer by profession. Robert’s spouse, Sheena (Delisha Rebello) works for a news channel.
Gangu Aii (Luiza Fernandes) and her only son Arjun (Sunil Naik), a police officer (PI) by profession, steps in seeking shelter in Robert’s house after their house was demolished. Robert treats Gangu Aii as his own mother and he takes Arjun as his own brother.
After sloughing and gaining higher education and winning the PI’s post by merit, Arjun is stripped of his designation and forced to step down by those in power. But lawyer Robert is determined to fight the case in court for Arjun and give him justice.
With ulterior motives, the Chief Minister Karan (Eddie de Souza Tavares) along with the Home Minister Ajit (Ashley Fernandes) and Martins (Paresh Chari) try to re-install Arjun. But he declines the offer bluntly as it is all with vested interests.
Threats follow at the instigation of the powers to be and goons are sent to trace Arjun at Robert’s residence. Gangu Aii is injured. Sinoshka immediately informs the police for further investigation, but a warrant is issued to arrest Arjun instantly. What follows next is worth the watch during the second half of the show.
The concluding scene brings out two victories simultaneously, namely Arjun released from prison after winning the case in the court and his aged mother Gangu Aii winning the elections by 7,000 votes against the CM. Double dhamaka is indigestible as a senior citizen could probably win the elections only after garnering sympathy from the electorate on release of her imprisoned innocent son.
‘Tiatr ‘Map Bhoron Votlem’ is a political drama bringing out the bad and the ugly in the political arena. The dirty games played by some of the ministers and higher-ups with selfish motives have been brought out in the drama. It also carries a small dose of suspense unveiled in the concluding scene.
The casting has been good, with all the artistes giving their best performances on stage. In the family, Desmond and Delisha have done justice as guardians, while Shania delivers promptly as their daughter. On the other hand, there’s Luiza and Sunil in mother-son relationship. Eddie as CM stands tall and he is ably supported by Ashley, Paresh, Myron, William and others.
For some comedy on stage, Natolino Vales as Sunny and his spouse Silvi (Juliet Fernandes), son Shubu (Klevin Costa) and Shiroo ((Urvashi Gaonkar) come together with laughter pills. But it all appeared more of a side comedy, except for the first scene when Sunny, Silvi and Shubu visit Robert and his family.
In the category of songs, there was the opening chorus by six singers, followed by a couple of good renditions from Alias Fernandes, a duet from Lizandra and Claster and a duo by Shanaya and Lizandra worth listening to.
Young musicians Queter, Edrol, Ashben and others provided good live music offstage. The stage sets by F X Pereira and lights by Sanket Bhandari were apt, with some good props on stage.
