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.
