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RAD NEWS DESK

OPENING DAY: Purushottam Karandak 2018 [India]


Call of the Day by PVPIT College

A robust energy saw the opening of Pune's oldest theatre festival organized diligently by the Maharashtra Kalopasak. The yelling and the shouting were the same. No new addition to the lingo!

The first play of the opening day had an interesting concept. The story explored script writing and its potentiality to be interpreted by various directors. Writers often leave spaces for directors to bring in their liberty. How far is their liberty taken? Call of the Day was an excellent example of this idea. Also, a nadir use of sets , gave a neat touch to the ambiance of play making on day one.

As, seen in other art forms artists do a conceptual analysis of their own life and make it a work of art; like the play Call of the Day.

You may have guessed it, the concern of the story of the play was Purushottam Karandak itself!

The idea of exploring possibilities is unique to drama, as the script writer leaves possibilities for directors, actors, lights,sound and sets to improvise.

Also, the first director took the scene to Purushottam Karandak itself. And the team is deciding to crack the much-reputed theatre festival. The set was simple and minimal. There are actually five characters on stage. The scene is of an emergency landing of a helicopter in Syria. Taimur starts the narration and it holds the audience. Scene two switches to the practice hall and the students are gathered together, discussing the method of the first director. In the next scene, we see the third director's take on the writer's work through the use of Kirtan. She makes the use of a harmonium to portray the scene.

There is a good transition from Scene three to four when the camp is being built and the Kirtan of the director is just about to finish. The scene again shifts to Taimur's tent. There is a reporter who tries to listen to their plan and runs away. The soldiers try to catch him. The students and the writers together are not able to decide which directorial method to go with. The story kind of portrayed a dilemma which every professional or college theatre goes through. There are many voices in a team who express things differently. The play in a subtle way showed us the creative process! With simple lights, minimal sets Call of the Day put up a good show and marvelous efforts!

Script: Vedant Naik

Director: Prasad Vidhate

Cast: Taimur and Director 1 (Saurabh Biware), Reporter and Director 2( Ritika Ware), Army Officer and Director (Nikhil Latkar), Writer (Vedant Naik), Camera Man and student representative ( Aveer Revenkar),

Lights: Shashank and Prasad Vidhate

Sound: Sanket Bade Backstage: Anurag, Pooja, Priya, Jay, Pratik, Nachiket Chiwate

Gurshakhyan by Pimpri Chinchwad Mahavidyalaya

The second story of the day was a setting of the LOC and the border. The set design made of sacks caught your attention immediately. There was rawness and ruggedness in the scene; which got more confusing with a character running up and down in a woman's dress. Both sides of the front are doing their duty for their allegiance. The army folks had chiseled and forceful accent and gestures to paint a military setting. It took you to countless battles and life of army men on the borders.

The character between the fenced who was also a narrator kept you engaged with fits of laughter and sarcasm . He would pull his dress up and down and scamper around; creating a weird- yet interesting energy. Good execution!

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Victim by Tilak Ayurveda College

The student world in the play is delightfully engaged in the social media. Someone is one the mobile phone, someone is texting, a play station and the virtual reality is rampant. The story chisels to a clerk's office where the modus operandi is of corruption. He becomes a victim to it senselessly. The local politicians use social media to post false posts to garner votes and popularity. Where does the common man go in this milieu of corruption, nepotism and false use of the social media. They perhaps do a Bhag Bhag D.K. Bose, like the film ; from this chaos . The characters are chaotically running around to nowhere! And there is no escape. The play gave an important message of the misuse social media.

 

Rasaaurdrama preview section is your best, most complete guide for all the theatre/films , big and small, coming your way soon. Happy Reading!

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