Theatre Review: GAA RE MAA by Anahita Uberoi at Prithvi Theatre Festival [India]
- Nov 9, 2018
- 2 min read
I entered the Royal Opera House and an amazing ambience with silent music affected my senses. I took some time to meet some audience members, as I felt, let's see how infectious is the vibes! Everyone was very excited!
The play recounts the story of two moms and two of her children, trying to come to term with their lives.
Prashant Kelkar, who is otherwise known as DJ Paapi is a sound engineer. He is trying his luck as a DJ. Tragically, his greatest gigs have been playing Punjabi 'hits' at weddings and parties. Whatever is happening, he is sure that big things are around the corner. His motivation comes from a lot of places like cars, bikes, utensils and also nature. But, his last piece is hard to understand.
His mom, who is a trained Hindustani Traditional vocalist, due to certain conditions, her voice has been affected. Between the battle with music and a stern, oppressive mother who is resolved to shield Pappya (Prashant) from the merciless universe of music; it appears that DJ Paapi is bound to play Punjabi Shake at weddings, whatever little is left of his life.
The mom, none the less begins to work with her kid and there starts a progression of unusual experiences and a war of music with his mom.
The director has done a fantastic job to build a concept of "Aside" and "Soliloquy" to make the audience aware of the ongoing in the mind of the characters. The lights were catchy and a spot was given wherever "aside" or "soliquy" was delivered.
Both the characters of Rhea and Masterji were wonderful.
About the music, I found it very pleasing specially this story additionally unites the old universe of music and the present day aesthetic articulation that is tied in with deconstructing rules – an apparently conflicting blend that circuits together charmingly.
Some of the cast were Bharati Achrekar, Suneeta Rao, Ruturaj Shinde, Danny Sura and Zayn Khan.
I also interacted with an audience member and this is what she said: "Elegant venue and great infectious Prithvi vibe. I felt like someone had copy pasted Prithvi and brought it to Royal Opera House. It was a great joy to watch an engaging musical play which had good amount of humor and had us guffawing. The actors were good, the set design was amazing, the play was a good mix of modern and contemporary." Music, melody and motherhood; that is what the play was all about!
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