HIT ON HITLER

Having done two plays earlier touching social themes like women’s status in a rigid caste society (Mahapatra) and powerplay in politics (Agnishika),director of the play,constable Sunil Kadam searched for a “strong script to suit a contemporary theme” and hit upon Hitler. It was the underlying message that “terror and division of countries for personal dictatorial benefits always meet with a nasty end” that made the cast zero-in on the subject. The subject being a character from history made things easier.

Author Dr Sameer Mone,an Ayurvedic medicine practioner from Pune wrote the screenplay. He says the script was first written in 1996 but was edited again in 2008. “The play is a look at Hitler’s journey of illusion towards suicide and it’s a psychological interpretation of the many wars that played inside his head.”

The entire cast,says director Kadam was made to read “any and every written material available” on the dictator with the lead Sushil Inamdar spending hours on the internet trying to get Hitler’s mannerisms including “the stiff walk and the stress he gave to his hands”.

Constable Subash Raut of LT Marg police station and his daughter Sonal Surve spent days researching on the lining,colours and stitches for the emblem and the attire. Arun Madgaikar from the Police Welfare Department took care of lighting.

To learn about Eva,immigration officer Vinaya Joshi spent a good time reading books on Adolf’s mistress. She says,“It was a role of a woman who spent ten years loving and living with a man only to die with him. It was tough.”

Encouraged by Additional Commissioner of Police Sandeep Bishnoi and Assistant Commissioner of Police Datta Dhawle,the cops worked double shifts rehearsing for 15 days before the show.

“The challenge for us was that being a uniformed force,we could not touch anything political or current,which may have left scope for controversy. The second aspect is that with any character of history,there is so much known and established that any interpretation has to be supported by strong established references,” says Inamdar.

Amar Bansode,a constable and close friend of Inamdar who shares the stage when Hitler meets his end,says “the core of the show is the confrontation between Hitler and Eva. It essentially helps in bringing out Hitler’s character,a man who never trusted anyone,not even himself.”

The play showcased interesting emotions,for instance the ‘cruel laughter’ erupting in the background,which in the words of

Dr Mone depicted Hitler’s friend Ernst Roehm used as the symbol of death,or the ghost who enters the stage depicting the common man,or the many questions Hitler and Eva ask each other giving another dimension to Hitler’s mental state days before his death.