Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival | August 24th 2024
Kaagzi Baarishein
Performed by Mizaaj Arts
A Torrent of Emotions
The stage awakens to the sound of pouring rain as the curtain of darkness disappears to
reveal the elegant setting of an accomplished writer’s living room. Jagjit Singh’s
“Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi” playing in the background coupled with soft warm lighting
teleports you to the Doordarshan era, preparing you to sit back in silence and enjoy
Anuradha Grover Tejpal’s Kaagzi Baarishein, directed by Akhil Pandya.
The hour-long portrayal of a slice of life, or shall we call it a raspberry chocolate
mille-feuille, revolves around four timeless characters inspired by nature that interact with
each other to craft stories and memories that keep resurfacing time and again, lest we
forget.
Aparajita (the resilient and unconquered life), played by seasoned thespian Dhruva Dwivedi,
is the central character of this story. An affluent, discerning, and devoted wife and
mother, she plans a special birthday dinner for her husband Samay (the immortal and
irreversible time). Played by Akhil Pandya himself, Samay refuses to be bound by someone
else’s plans, even those of his thoughtful and tasteful wife.
Their conflict turns a romantic evening into a screaming match that regurgitates several
bitter feelings that have accumulated over their long and imperfect marriage. Unable to bear
Samay’s incomprehensible reluctance to appreciate her efforts, Aparajita collapses into
sadness. She is caught by her loyal house help Channo (the silently observing moon),
portrayed by Puja Karira. Channo reminds her that she has forgotten her medication for
dementia and has had yet another bout of hallucinations where she imagined her long deceased
husband.
In the flesh, Samay found solace in the arms of Prakriti (the boundless and bountiful
nature), with whom he could express himself. Essayed by the phenomenal debutante Hina
Mahindru, who transformed herself from the understudy to the main actor in a couple of
weeks, Prakriti was smitten by Samay’s poetic style and playful words which she committed
to her heart for a long time.
The play reaches its peak when Prakriti pays a visit to Aparajita resulting in tell-all
confrontations, confessions, and clarifications about their common love interest who
didn’t exist anymore. Yet again, Mizaaj Arts brings a rich story to the fore. The dedicated
cast and crew did justice to it with their intense performances and going the extra mile to
bring the fictional characters to life.
Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival | August 19th 2023
Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane
Performed by Mizaaj Arts
Forty Minutes of Magic
A well crafted rendition of the longer original monologue written by Manav Kaul, Mizaaj
Arts’ more concise and experimental spin on “Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane” engages the
audience as much as it enchants. Resting firmly on the shoulders of the dynamic duo of
Megha Raina and Dhruva Dwivedi, who elevate the script with their power packed
performances, acting as the sniffling Sarita and skeptical Sarla Didi respectively. The
director Akhil Pandya explored the boundaries of modifying the play without compromising
with the soul of the story, as he explained to the audience in a warm post performance
interaction.
The story is set in an obscure Indian village, languishing remotely somewhere in between a
highway and a jungle in the age of handwritten letters and nostalgic photographs. The stage
comes alive as Sarita and Sarla swoop across the length and breadth of their courtyard,
gracefully falling to the ground and defying gravity to bounce back effortlessly throughout
the forty minutes. The solitary rocking arm chair in the middle is reserved for the central
character of Pundlik, their uncle, who is often mimicked by both the actors under the
spotlight.
It is from there that he casts a light on the five grains of sugar that Sarita and Sarla
have been figuratively pursuing like ants throughout their lives. Their quest for a
“samasya”, their raison d’être, sometimes leads to Julie (a high heeled diva who has
adopted a Hollywood actress as her God), Radhe (a yarn spinning self-proclaimed confidante
of Mahatma Gandhi), and a nameless truck driver who gallivanted around the country.
Eventually, they crack the code that Pundlik lays entrenched in his poems.
They rise above the plane of their spiritual existence to recognize their role in the
universe and pen a poem on the significance of the Five Grains of Sugar, completing
Pundlik’s anthology and their introspective journey. As layered as the story is, the details
with which the actors tell it on stage is mesmerizing. Watching in Toronto and hearing such
clean and elevated words in Hindi, strung together into thought provoking dialogues, was an
experience to remember and feel connected with the homeland.
The lingering after effects of the performances are a testament to the production’s hard
work and commitment to their art. One is certainly left wanting for more, because the
craving for live excellence is insatiable.
July 26th 2024
Manthan
Performed by Mizaaj Arts
On point. Encore!
On a warm and clear Friday night when one could have reveled anywhere in the GTA, Mizaaj
Arts packed a theater with loyal as well as uninitiated fans to perform their hit plays from
last year. Manthan was a nostalgic mixtape that churned and clarified the audience’s
thoughts and captured their attention.
Reprising their roles from ‘Park’ and ‘Shakkar ke Paanch Daane’, the actors warmed up the
crowd for what’s to come in a mouthwatering finale to the summer. While they whet their
appetite for the new play, they have plenty of food for thought to savor from the rhetorical
questions raised by these two plays.
Park brings together three common men, each with a buried story that draws them under the
open sky, and pits them against each other in fights over who can sit on which bench. Their
loud, heated, and sentimental arguments touch upon contemporary conflicts of territories and
rights as examples. If there are two things that are common between displacers and claimers,
heartbreak is one thing and ego is another.
Guru, Sachin Trivedi, and Kunal Choudhary represented diverse stratas of the society and
were firmly immersed in their distinct characters. They captivated the audience for an hour
in a long single scene that was reminiscent of a Tarantino movie.
After the intermission, being true to their names, Dhruva and Megha seamlessly swapped the
foreground and background with each other, just like in nature. For the repeat viewer, the
experience felt different despite the same questions being asked at a completely different
juncture of life.
To sum it up, this was a delightful two-for-the-price-of-one summer deal that felt like
Yesterday Once More. Credits: kudos to you if you spotted the two Carpenter references.
