With winter approaching amidst the hustle bustle of upcoming Annual Production at Natrani, on 25. 26 and 27 November, the MICAns indulged in yet another season of Khula Aasman, on 17 November, consisting of four different plays. Khula Aasman is an in-house event at MICA that is organised every few weeks for students to showcase their play direction, production and acting skills to each other.
The first play to open the second season of Khula Aasman was “Love”, directed by Satya Narayanan and Anuja Dani. It was about how agonizing unreciprocated love can be, especially for a teenage girl discovering it for the first time. How long each of us have waited for that one call, that one glance from the person we’re secretly crushing on. But what if the other person does love you and the destiny conspires to keep you apart forever?
The next play was “Surrender”, written and directed by Gaurav Nigam. It was the story of a young man who falls into a trap and gets labelled as a terrorist. Though he surrenders, his entire family suffers the misery and taunts of society. Not being accepted by anyone and being punished for no fault of his, he commits a crime, only to finally surrender before his mother. Play highlights that the biggest punishment is that by society and not the one by law.
The play “The True Artist”, written and directed by Percy Bharucha, deals with criticism and the fear of public criticism. The motif of the play is the loss of objectivity in criticism today and purposeful vindication in the name of commercialization. The play ends with the defence of new creativity and how it must be protected and nurtured.
The closing show was “My Favourite Love Stories”, directed by Ravikant Kisana. The story is about a small-town couple who decide to break up because their seemingly healthy relationship does not feel as intense or as perfect as their favourite love-stories of Raj-Simran from ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ and Rahul-Pooja from ‘Dil toh Pagal hai’. The play revisits these classic characters 10 years after their story ended in the films and ironically it finds that all is not well in their lives as well. In this time, Raj has developed into an abusive chauvinist while Simran has morphed into a needy, insecure housewife. Rahul is found stuck in a rut of chronic infidelity and his marriage with Pooja is on the rocks as well. The play attempts to explore how filmy love-stories condition our relationships when we start looking at them as a template for love.
All the plays were well received, with the audience turning up in large numbers and clapping for the performers and artists with great enthusiasm. Next on the anvil is the Annual Grand Production at Natrani Amphitheatre scheduled for 25, 26 and 27 November. On this occasion, Sankalp will stage “Party”, an adaptation of the play by the famous Indian playwright, Mahesh Elkunchwar. The play will peep into the lives of upper-class people given to partying and socialising.
Tickets for the play are available online at Book My Show and also at the Gulmohar Park Mall, Ahmedabad.
