Muavazey, a Wild Rodeo
Ride of Laughter
By Ali Hasan Cemendtaur
Stageplay Muavazey, produced by the theater
group NAATAK, wrapped up its circuitous journey of the Bay
Area last week. This writer saw the second last show of
the play, and he was glad he did. Now, this is how working
people should spend their Sunday evenings: watching a fun-filled
show, laughing a lot, and getting recharged for the work
on Monday. Look at it from any angle and you won't have
anything short of superlative words of praise to say about
the
production. It had been a while that this writer went to
see a show so hilarious.
Muavazey's story is set in an unnamed Indian city that is
frequently hit by communal riots. There are three segments
of the society anticipating the riots and forming their
strategies to profit from the looming murder and mayhem.
First, there is preparation at the official level: both
by the police and by the elected officials. Then there are
the community leaders who are eyeing the imminent opportunity
for posturing. And lastly there are the poor people who
have nothing much to
live for. The standard Muavazey (compensations) of Rs. 100,000
to the family of those killed in the riots, and Rs. 150
to those wounded in the violence, given by the Government,
are strong incentives for the poor to devise plans to benefit
from the next round of a fray. Deenu rickshaw driver, who
was wounded in the previous riots, is persuaded by his friends
to get killed in the next riots, for the altruistic cause
of aiding his family.
Scenes from the play “Muavazey
The anticipation and preparation of the riots lead to its
commencement when a speech recorded by the Minister, to
be delivered right after the riot gets broadcasted, by mistake,
before the riots. The whole
story is a non-stop laughter prescription from the beginning
to the end. The play ends with Jagga, the goon, deciding
to get 'real power', transforms himself from Jagga to Seth
Jagannath, and runs for the parliament.
Muavazey was directed by Sujit Saraf. Saraf, a very talented
man, has been working hard in the field of theater since
1997. In Muavazey Sujit's exemplary directorship could be
seen in the attention paid to the details: a small tape-player
that would give the sound of the ringing telephone bell,
hidden in a box set on the table; how acts would be kept
dynamic all the time, e.g. how, during a long run of dialogs,
a man sitting on the chair would be quickly turned ninety
degrees to
face the other half of the audience, and so on. In between
the acts there was no curtain to come down, or lights that
would be turned off. Instead, at the conclusion of each
act the set was changed by diverting the audience's attention
to a chorus sung by marching, flamboyant singers (Amit Sharma,
Sareeka Malhotra, Navjyoti Sharma, Shobhna Upadhyaya, and
Sujit Saraf); concurrently the stage crew would quickly
change the set.
The play was produced by Sareeka Malhotra and Manish Sabu.
Their efforts in metamorphosing an ordinary hall into a
theater - back row chairs were raised, partitions were
created to hide the props and the cast, and to produce off-stage
sounds - are commendable.
Even with an army of performers Muavazey used, several actors
played multiple roles: Vijay Rajvaidya was the police commissioner
and Seth Ramgavaya; Navjyoti Sharma was the thanedar, Seth
Bishandas, and Manglu; Rajat Sharma played the constable
and the Gumashta; Harish Sunderam Agastya played the minister,
Aslam Khan, and Kaka; Sujit Saraf was Saxena, seth Bhagatram,
and Teja; Ravidar Chopra played seth Daulatram; Abhishek
Das played Deenu and the Boy; Manish Sabu played Pandit,
Seth Keshoram, and the supplicant; Monica Mehta Chitkara
played Sulochanaji and Basanti; Shobhna Upadhyaya played
Shanti and Seth Ramgavaya's wife; Amit Sharma played Jagga;
and Jagjit Choudhary played the umbrella
man.
Muavazey was a well-rehearsed play in which all the actors
performed on a very high professional level. The lead roles
played by Vijay Rajvaidya, Navjyoti Sharma, Rajat Sharma,
Harish Sunderam Agastya, Abhishek Das, Ravidar Chopra, and
Shobhna Upadhyaya were skillfully rendered. The most memorable
among the cast was Amit Sharma as Jagga. Like all professional
theater actors he was completely oblivious to the audience
and had his heart and soul in the character he was playing.
Amit Sharm is truly celluloid material.
Muavazey was written by famous novelist/short-story writer
Late Bhisham Sahni. For those of you who are wondering how
Bhisham Sahni was related to Balraj Sahni (of film 'Garam
Hawa' fame), the two were brothers. That Bhisham Sahni could
write on the ultra-sensitive issue of Hindu-Muslim riots
in such a comical and non-controversial way speaks volumes
of his greatness as a writer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
