-
Category:
Theatres in Mumbai
- 26149546, 39895050
- Plot Number 20, Janki Kutir Society, Juhu Church Road, Next to Juhu Centaur Hotel, Juhu, Mumbai
- Landmark: Next to Juhu Centaur Hotel
Events at Prithvi Theatre
Munshji Ki Gudgudiyan 2
Bade Bhaisahab - The most amazing of all relationships
Bade Bhaisahab - The most amazing of all relationships
-
MysteryShopper
-
Salesman Ramlal- to see or not to see? 2009-10-01
So here I was, partner firmly in tow, in an auto rushing towards Juhu's famed Prithvi Theater, feeling extremely accomplished because I had finally taken the initiative to actually do something different apart from going out drinking. I had booked online on BookMyShow- Prithvi's default online booking partner apparently- which was a great idea because the play turned out to be Houseful. BookMyShow was a fairly easy and pleasant experience (I can assure you some online booking/ e-commerce sites are a heart attack on a page, but more on that some other time) and just so you know, they charged me Rs.33 extra for the 'service'. Fair enough. It saved me a lot of trouble and not everyone has a driver who runs all the household errands. (by the way, I do have a driver but I try not to keep him overtime just to go round the corner; and I certainly don't make him run errands that are not part of his 'driver' duties- no thanks to The White Tiger).
Anyhow, whether the play was houseful because it was an acclaimed play, or because tickets were half price at Rs.80 a pop on Mondays and Tuesdays I will never know, but here we all were, a few hundred of us theater aficionados on the rainiest, stormiest Tuesday evening at 8.50 PM waiting for the doors to open. Just so you know, you need to weave your way through the crowds milling outside to 'the table' where Santa sits doling out the tickets to clever people like myself that booked online (hah so there), past the sad sods who didn't bother to book online or swing by the theater in advance to pick up tickets.
Anyway, so of course, bold letters proclaim everywhere that STRICTLY NO LATE ADMISSIONS and the play was to start at 9PM sharp But it started only around 9.15, after all the great Indian families, which travel in large packs as a rule, had entered (at 9.05pm), stood at the entrance scanning the entire theater and loudly exclaimed there were 'no good seats left', finally admitted defeat and settled into the worst seats in the house- the one where you literally could only see the back of the actors. 2 tips ? don't come late for a play if you want a good seat (Prithvi offers free seating ? i.e a democratic system where everyone pays equal for the tickets and seating is on a first come first served basis. I only stress the point because often people in the world's greatest democracy fail to be even the least bit democratic about such matters. Why do I say that - Tip 2- when you observe these pack animals come in late and settle for the worst seats in the house, do not leave your own awesome seat for a chai or a breath of air during the interval - you can be sure it will be gone by the time you return. This is the downside of having free seating- its blatantly misused by these undemocratic Indians who travel in Mercs but think nothing of cutting the queue, dropping a McDonald's Mega Milk Shake Cup out their car window or even stealing your seat while you innocently go to answer natures call.
OK, so the play itself. Now, there is something about watching a play that has famous and successful people playing the central characters. This is because you feel they are not struggling actors who are only doing this till Rakyesh Mehra sitting in the audience discovers them. That their ambition in life is to be a proper film actor, talking nostalgically of their 'theater days'. But ask them if they will do another play and you can bet your last Prithvi samosa they will say 'I'd love to, but I have no dates till 2047. So as I said, there is something about actors who have already made it- you feel like they are doing this because they want to, because its their true passion; and then you believe they are really going to deliver a passionate and fabulous performance because their energies are not distracted by the thought of having to pay next months rent or catching Ekta Kapoor's eye.
So Willy and Linda Loman (Or Ramlal and Ganga in this version) were played by Satish Kaushik and Seema Biswas respectively. The rest of the main cast- the two sons- Biff and Happy; the neighbor Charlie and his nerdy son Bernard, Willy's dead older brother Ben ? were unknown to me. I have lost the piece of paper listing the cast's names that I was handed at the theater, and the Prithvi website merely dismisses them as 'Others' which I find quite disrespectful actually. You'd think at least Prithvi would give each actor his or her due space.
So the play itself. And your burning questions of 'So, should I go see it'? The short answer is Yes. Do go. But the long answer is like so:
Its directed by Feroz Khan (I couldn't tell if it was the Feroz Khan of the Dandy Khan Brothers trio). This version of the play is an 'adaptation' of the original only in the sense that it 'indianises' everything in the perhaps mistaken belief that Indian audiences will be able to relate to it better. So of course Biff's football is turned into Cricket, and the character names themselves have been changed. But otherwise the storyline is maintained pretty much as in the original, and indeed writing credits are given to Arthur Miller himself. The acting by Satish Kaushik is really very good, and anyone of you that has aging parents that never quite made it big but have lots of dreams for you, will be able to relate with moist eyes to the entire situation (even if you haven't read the original play). Seema Biswas shines at certain moments ? especially when she is having a exchange with her sons in the first half, telling them about all the sacrifices the father has made for them. Satish Kaushik brings in some quirks and touches- both in the way he speaks and in his physical movements that are endearing and pathetic at the same time; and you cant quite figure if you should pity him or not. The two sons are competent but honestly it could have been any decent theater actors. The dead brother- called Moti in this version- is just bizarre- you know he is supposed to be Willy's imagination, but his mannerisms and outfits are just really bizarre. In Willy's head, the dead brother is the epitome of all the things he could have been himself, of all his own lost potential, and he has built him into something of almost comical proportions. Somehow you are not convinced that Ramlal actually wanted to be a loud, gaudy character dressed in horribly bright colors ? there could be subtler ways of showing the kind of success that eluded Ramlal via the ghost of his dead brother. The one huge irritant ? which was unbearably and inexplicably loud and screechy- was the 'other woman'- again- you don't have to show her as a banshee for the audience to get the point ? 'very bad woman'..the scene between Ramlal and her is awkwardly executed and could have been much smoother. Its the one weak link of the play and done in characteristic Indian awkwardness for intimate moments. Flashback scenes with the neighbor's nerdy son (Bernard in the original) are also very taxing and grate on your nerves- he is again unnecessarily loud and screechy in his teenage avatar- and given the size of Prithvi such excessiveness is really a mystery. Its small enough to do things at their natural pace and tone. Its like the director is trying to cover up the lack of real acting skills with loudness and overacting.
But apart from that, the play is really a good sincere and honest redention of the original and Satish Kaushik and Seema Biswas really bring their characters alive. You do feel the pangs of being a cog in the wheel your entire life- with people alternately scoffing and pitying you. The friendship between Ramlal and his neighbor is very endearingly played out, although I remember wondering - even while reading the original - if such goodness really exists. It made me leave the theater with the desire to quit my meaningless job immediately and follow my dreams pronto, lest I end up a defeated, regretful 6-0-year old with a dead-end life. The feeling lasted almost all the way home (at 11.30 PM that didn't take too long) but needless to say, the next morning at work, no resignation letters were submitted.
I SAW SALESMAN RAMLAL ON 22SEPTEMBER 2009 AT PRITHVI IN JUHU, MUMBAI. Read more of my reviews on my blog http://mumbaimysteryshopper.blogspot.com/ -
