Tendulkar play staged at Tagore Theatre

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

CHANDIGARH, NOV 15: The jampacked car park was a ruse. It was only when one would enter the auditorium, one would find all that was. Students of the Acting Department, Citi Entertainment Network presented Vijay Tendulkar's satire, Hatt teri kismat, at the Tagore Theatre here today. Hatt teri.. is the story of a corrupt and dethroned Chief Minister who finds himself cogitating at his ouster one day. Sitting by the seaside, he is thoughtful when he meets a stranger. The stranger turns out to be a long-lost acquaintance who is a clerk by profession. Our CM does not recognise our Clerk. When pursued by the electorate, for the Prime Minister has called for the dethroning for his corrupt practices, the CM suggests a change of clothes with the Clerk. That is done, when news comes in that the CM is reinstated. The Clerk is now the CM and insists on staying that way.

After a year the two meet, when the irate real CM kills the Clerk, when news comes in that the fake CM has also been dethroned for malpractice. The real CM is shattered, "Hatt teri Kismat (Oh! Blasted fate)."

At the very first onset, the artistes -- Sandeep Sen and Vijay -- seemed to have taken more than they could do. For, it seemed that the director did not realise that Tendulkar's play requires more mature players to actually convey the message hidden in most of the playwright's works. Apart from voice-modulation, the enactment failed to stir up the audience and the satire was lost.

However, considering that the students have been trained in a three-month stint, one hopes that maturity and skills will come with time.

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