Sunday, June 9, 2019

Dummies Drama - Veezhven Endru Ninaithayo - A viewer's Review

Dummies Drama's Presented - Veezhven Endru Ninaithayo  drama today at Narada Gana Sabha.  As theater enthusiast and Dummies Drama's ardent followers, Raghu and I decided to make it for the drama after a relaxed Sunday afternoon. 

One word - 'Brilliant'  and Second Words -'Thought Provoking'.

Honestly, DD is one troupe of people who never disappoint you.   Strong in the subjects they choose, depth in the dialogues they deliver,  humour and wit in the life's real events that unfold,  artists who make you feel like you know them for ages and the entire stage coordination that shows the amount of practice and hardwork they put behind every Tamil Play.    If you want to enjoy Tamil Theater to its fullest, please do go for their drama's and they for sure gets interwine beautifully in your life somewhere or the other. 

Veezhven Endru Ninaithayo ( Do you think I will fall down?)  is such a emotional drama that makes you feel glued for the full 1.5 hours and for few minutes after the curtains down at the end as well.     



Many a times, Raghu and I wait for Sridhar sir to come on stage, for we are his die hard fans after watching 'Pratibhimbam' where he played the role of PM Narendra Modi.  But today,  Sreevothsan sir did not even give us a chance to think of Sridhar sir missing in the play.   Sreevothsan effortlessly played the role of the Protogonist Shantaram.    Shantaram is a reflection of each one of us when we face adversity in life, especially when we know that the end is inevitable.  The strong message of 'Life is how you take it'...sinks in you slowly and deeply as you keep watching the play. 

I am now repeatedly thinking if I should play a spoil sport and disclose the story line here, for those who want to go and watch it in the coming days or should I just review how I felt....as a theater lover, this play gave me something, I never thought of.   Prepare 'Bucket List!'.

Brief jist of the story-line!

Protogonist Shantaram finds out that he is suffering from Cancer and is probably in the final stages.  He ends up in a dilemma whether to go for the painful process of the treatment, share it with the family and make them unhappy and spend his remaining days in hospital and treatment or if he has to just let the treatment go,  manage it with painkillers and live life happily for whatever days he is left with.    After a deep self-introspection with his friend 'Raghava'...he decides to keep this a secret from his family.   He goes on to prepare a bucket list initially which were more of unrealistic dreams - like visiting Seven Wonders of the World, or atleast Niagara Falls, visiting all temples before his end comes.   Later on, on his advice from his friend Raghava, he rewrites his bucket list which is more realistic with things like 'spending time with his father,'. growing a mustache, ' planning for finances for his family',  'making food for his wife one day',  visiting all his friends and relatives, ' apologizing to all the people who he could have hurt in the past',  and bucket list no 7 of having a inner urge to meet his beloved lover Chitra whom he last met 25 years ago. 

The drama unfolds on how Shantaram starts achieving his bucketlist items,  a subtle love story  that tells us that 'Love can never be past tense', and it is only how maturely we understand it and keep it alive, to keep the spark of life and go on.    The drama shows intense scenes of family happiness, how casually dialogues create sparking thoughts in his daughter,  how his wife reads through pain in his eyes,  how a father poignantly clearly states that Shantaram can do what ever he wants and makes him happy and not just for looks...how a son calmly does his duties and adheres to his father's wish of taking care of his ailing friend...and how his ex-love Chitra strikes a balance between her love story and her present husband and their life together.    One dialogue that got maximum applause was between Chitra and Shantaram -  when she tells him that she told about their love story to her husband, and when Shantaram tells that 'how much ever a wife is understanding, this is one thing that never a man should tell his wife!'....clap clap clap!  And the true love he has for his wife when he wants her to be with him in the next life as well....                   

Finally, when it is time and Shantaram understands that most of his bucket list is now fulfilled, and final one is to go to Kasi..in search of Salvation...the play reveals the real identity of his friend...and his inner-self.   I think most of us need many a time, need to sit in silence and speak to yourself, to bring in the right conclusion from the conflicting thoughts and people and situations around us!

Three Cheers to  the amazing artists.   The role played by Shantaram's wife needs a special mention.   She did give her best.  The style of her saree draping and body manners made her have a strong resemblance to Nirmala Sitaraman....and her dialogues delivery and acting was really good.   Nithya as Shantaram's lover Chitra carries herself very easily.   Having seen her in many of DD's plays before, she was not a surprise in terms of dialogues or acting and she keeps up her space with ease.   The artists who played the role of his children were also very good.   Though for few scenes, the doctor, the company director,  the father,  Chitra's husband,  nephew characters lived upto the expectations.   The actor who played the role of Raghava - the self image of Shantaram did give his best and surely was in par with Sreevothsan.  The back stage coordination was flawless.

Music, Lights,  Make-up and Prompts were are well thought off and the technical team did their usual best as part of any other DD Plays.

Thank you Dummies Drama's for giving us a very heart-touching theater experiences time and again.  May your tribe increase, may you entertain us more and may your success become wide-spread.  God bless!


Long live Theater....and May the Creative juices keep flowing to enthrall our audiences for long!









1 comment:

Sreevathson said...

Namaste Madam, I am deeply moved by your review. It shows how keenly you have watched the play. Thank you so much. Such audience / followers are God's gift. Hope we live up. The motivation I have got from your words is immense.