Actors: Sanjeev Iyer, Raza Hussain, PD Sathish Chandra, Mahesh Pandey, Sheila Govindaraj, Kamal Pruthi, Pritham Kumar
Structure: Ram Ganesh Kamatham
Direction: Preetam Koilpillai
Plays are fairly common in Bangalore and with its cosmopolitan culture, the plays come in different languages too. Having watched a few of them, one should say that the love for theatre does makes its presence felt in this city, though maybe not to the extent of Mumbai. Through this play, I got introduced to the Black Coffee group, founded by the director himself, and its Festival of Theatre 2004.
Second among the three comprising the festival, Khel is Black Coffee’s first Hindi venture. As the punned title suggests, the plot revolves around a cricket match between boys of upper and lower castes, and the resultant game of politics. The narration shifts between the present and the past, with the former fixed in a police station.
The story as such is quite predictable and it’s the stageplay, dialogues and the acting that evoke interest. The dialogues are earthen, half of them loaded with filthy language. Nevertheless, they never seem out of place and contribute to the realism. Some scenes are too violent to be expected in a play. Overall, the target audience is expected to be highly mature.
Among the actors, Raza makes the big impression, with his powerful and unabated performance. He effortlessly alternates from an inspector in control to a man desperate to get out of the small town and to a helpless in-charge trying to get out of the difficult situation. Sanjeev is natural like all other actors, and handles the tough job of changing back and forth between fully clothed and half-naked well. Sathish’s dialogue delivery and body language help him do justice to the role of a middle-aged, slobbish constable. Mahesh is fine too, except possibly his hyperactive body. Sheila earns the sympathy of the audience as an aged, helpless mother.
The pleasant surprise is the technical aspects of the play. The lighting stands out, be it the jail bars or the shadow effect in combination with the Mahatma’s photo. Make-up is good, matching the tone of the play. If scene transitions had been managed better, the show would have been near-perfect.
The structure and direction are excellent while the collaborative effort is praiseworthy. In spite of a not-so-fresh idea, the sub-hour play is worth watching for the novel attempt of the group.