Aisa Kehte Hain
The much acclaimed Ilhaam, directed by Manav Kaul, was performed last year at TheatreFest. This year, he brought to us a musical, Aisa Kehte Hain.
The play starts off with the male protagonist in love with his childhood friend, proposing to her every time he got a chance, refusing to take no for an answer. The girl still spends time with him though, because she is amazed by his story-telling abilities. So, as a part of his latest effort, he starts telling her another story with two parallel sub-plots, one being enacted out by a group of pigeons on the roof of a railway station and another by a group of people stuck at the station. The pigeons' story involved other sub-plots, as did the story down at the station. The storyline meandered to places that we would have never dreamed of. One line, spoken by a character called Brahmanand aptly says it all, "I just wanted to entertain myself for the night, and that is why I made this story up."
The humour was refreshing. At every point, the inclusion of the same was effortless, interspersed perfectly with serious elements. At certain points, the play was a bit of a drag, probably because one couldn't understand where it was headed. The scenes, as standalone acts though, were incredible. The acting was great, the music even better. The transitions between scenes were smooth, as expected from a professional play.
To say that the play was abstract would be to grossly understate it. There were loads of symbolisms present - characters symbolizing other characters in a parallel universe, humans connoted by pigeons. It was difficult to fathom the significance of each. Most of us were left with something or the other unclear in our minds. But the play, on all other counts, was brilliant.
The fact still remains that this is one format that most of us would not have seen earlier, not in IIT for sure. The execution was perfect. The versatility of the actors was really something to appreciate, with different people playing various instruments in different scenes. Having more than fifteen people on the LT stage was a feat in itself. The light effects were, again, quite innovative.
All in all, it was a good learning experience for all of us out here. Having professionals come out here on stage and showing us how it is done is something all of us enjoyed immensely. Cheers to all those involved in bringing it to us!
