When Agostinho Temudo, alias Comedian Agostinho left his house to perform at the Pai tiatrist Joao Agostinho Fernandes Hall of Ravindra Bhavan Margao on Tuesday, he left with a smile. A smile that a thought he had believed in, had indeed come true. It was the 101st performance of his tiatr ‘Pai’. Though this was scheduled to be the last performance of his tiatr, another performance is being planned at the Hanuman Natyagraha, Mapusa at the behest of the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, Francis D’Souza.
What inspired Agostinho to write this tiatr? “I am a father and I had a father who struggled in life to bring up his seven children. I witnessed this struggle from a very close angle,” came the pat reply. “The plot was going on in my mind for a very long time. Recently, I have been observing a man, walking his way towards Cuncolim, from Dandevaddo-Chinchinim, every morning. As he walks, he keeps on looking behind, hoping for a lift to Cuncolim. Unfortunately, I travel in the opposite direction coming to Navelim. I began to contemplate. Why is this man walking his way out to work? Can’t he buy a vehicle? Can’t he go by bus? A thought then struck me. Maybe this man finds it difficult to make ends meet at home. Maybe he is walking his way to work in order to save a few rupees for the family! It was then that I decided to put this thought on paper and pen down this tiatr.”
With the dream of paying a tribute to the heroics of his own father and the thought of this man walking his way to work motivating him to write, Com. Agostinho gave a serious thought to the theme. A voice within kept on telling him that a tiatr on this topic would appeal to the masses. He was sure of a decent run at the market. The thought gained momentum and he had a talk with Pradeep Naik. He was sure that it was only Naik who could portray the role of the passionate father. He had decided that he would not go forth with the tiatr if Naik refused to essay the lead. To his good luck, Naik agreed and things started moving in the right direction. The tiatr had a grand mega release at the Ravindra Bhavan Hall at Vasco da Gama.
‘Pai’ relates to real life experiences. The sequences in the tiatr are actual happenings or linked to actual happenings. Com Agostinho says: “During my 17 years of service at the Rosary College Navelim, I was witness to different actions of society. I saw the deeds of the children of rich parents as well as the humility and pain of the children coming from the middle class and lower strata of the society. All this has reflected in my tiatr ‘Pai’.”
The audience come for Com Agostiinho’s tiatr prepared for a laugh riot, but the gripping emotions that move them to tears is what makes ‘Pai’ a class apart. “Even the Deputy CM had tears in his eyes while watching the 4th podd’ddo,” claims Com Agostinho.
Com Agostinho gives his entire cast credit for the success of his tiatr. “It was all team work,” he claims. He is great with the the script and comedy but falters when it comes to composing songs and cantos and singing as well. The cantos for the tiatr are composed by Benny de Aldona. Most of the songs too are composed by Benny and Jr Nelson. The topics of most of the songs are decided by the director.
Completing a century of performances in a span of three and half months is indeed an achievement. The entire team needs to be lauded for this. Well done.
The last performance
‘Pai’ will be held in Mapusa next month… further information will b disclosed
later.