Conscience Confronted

Thankgod we did not plan to watch a movie over the weekend but instead booked tickets for the much acclaimed play ' Bikhre Bimb' written and directed by Girish Karnard .

Whatever one says , but i strongly feel that theatre has its own charm . Unlike movies , plays are short and do not bore you. I was always interested in watching plays and lucky me, i have got a husband who shares the same interest as mine!! :)

I had much heard about 'Ranga shankara' the theatre group but never really had got a chance to visit it. Once , during a casual conversation , my hubby mentioned about some play at Rangashankara that he had watched some time ago. Instantly my long forgotten desire woke up and we actually decided on watching a play at Rangashankara.
And i would'nt regret this decision. Atleast 70 minutes spent constructively rather than wasting 3 hours on some sloppy movie.

Rangashankara has only one stage . All the plays at Rangashankara are staged here. Its a small cosy auditorium with a capacity of around 300 seats. They also have a nice website that lists the calender of plays which will be staged for that current month.

The play was to start at 7:30 pm but we reached the venue by half past 6 . I was eager to get into the auditorium but had to wait for another 40 mins before they let the crowd in. The usual misconception about plays are that they are not entertaining as movies and one should put in extra effort to basically understand the message behind it. And hence not many takers .
I was under the impression that the auditorium would not be even filled to half its capacity . But I was completely wrong . It was sold out !!!

'Bikhre Bimb' or 'The broken images' as in English is a one man play and is played by Arundati Nag - wife of actor Shankar Nag. This play has won her many accolades . Definitely it goes without saying that it is one of her ' the extrordinary' performances.

The stage is set to depict a Television studio with TV sets in the background and one big flat 36" screen monitor at one side of the stage . The play starts with Mamta Naik (Arundati Nag )stepping into the TV studio to deliver a keynote speech on the award winning novel of hers . Its her first novel in English and overnight ,she has become a best selling author .
She is done with her interview and about to leave the studio when she hears a voice talking to her. She turns around and is shocked to see her own self talking to her through the big TV screen . She is scared and in a quivering voice asks 'Who are u' ? .. her self in the TV monitor answers ' I am you' .. :) ........She then realises that she is confronted by her conscience .

The story then unfurls slowly with the character's conscience trying to dig into the dark side of Mamta's life and trying to get her to face the bitter truths of life. Many astounding facts are revealed and it all finally boils down to ' a broken image' .
You end up asking yourself - Am i betraying myself?... Am i running away from the harsh truths of life with no courage to face them? .. Am I a coward trying to hide behind the curtain of lies?
Life is nothing but a broken image.............

Just no words to describe Arundati Nag's performance.. Splendid.. Extrordinary ..
At the end of the play , she gets a standing ovation from the audience and she deserves it every bit.

Anyways i have decided , henceforth atleast one play every month ......