By Arbuda Pandya
Recently the theatre lovers of Udaipur got a wonderful opportunity to witness a classic mime show at Lokmannya.
TilakAuditorium of Maharashtra Bhavan, Udaipur. Twenty-five artistes from the age of 6 years to 26 years presented seven mimes with different themes. All the seven mimes were thoughtfully conceived, masterfully designed and choreographed, supported by apt sound and lighting effects.
While some acts had social messages hidden in layers, mimes like "Painter" (by Shubham Sharma and Akhil S. Nayar) and "Thief-Police" (by Ashfaq Noor Khan, Sidddhant Bhatnagar, Rekha Sisodia, Mubin Khan, Richa Sharma, Khushal Purohit with Shubham and Akhil) were full of entertainment, underlining humor of the human life. These pieces skillfully magnified moments of situational comedy and grew funnier from one scene to another, making the audience crack in laughter.
Some other Mimes acted like sugar quoted pills for the audience, starting with funny situations and ending in subtle important messages for the society. "Plantation week v/s Plantation Weak" starts with a leader planting a tree in an organized social event. But soon after the promising celebrations, the plant suffers attacks by human beings and animals and ends up in miserable plight. While the plant's condition is completely overlooked by others, the school children understand the plant's sentiments and feed it with love and the water from their water-bottles. These showers of love brings back the plant to life. Tanzeem Khan exhibited his talent and acted as the plant. Shubhangi Rathore, Sunil Tank, Mukul Aoudichya, Ketan Kumawat played multiple characters in the act.
"Dust Free Dustbin-Swachch Bharat Abhiman" portrayed the reluctant behavior of many people about maintaining cleanliness. Poor Dustbin is always welcoming people to throw garbage in it but people keep him forever deprived of its rights. While the sarcastic humor of the situation builds on, the dustbin is dying of empty stomach, until a small boy puts garbage into it and initiates the act of feeding dustbins, and gets applauded by the people. The mime concluded with the signature song of "Swachch Bharat Abhiyan." Theprotagonist of this mime was played by Gautam Bhatnagar.
Another Mime was based on the most vital natural resource "Water", and highlighted its misuse done by people. The audience enjoyed in loud laughter as the act went through various funny episodes of wasting water, and reached its climax when only a last drop of water is left. In the utmost anticipation, the last drop also gets wasted. Mubin Khan, Bhupendra Singh Rawat, Shubhangi Rathore, Sahil Khan, Jovial Sinha, Bhuwan Sharma and Dhruv Palival mesmerized the audience with their skillful acting.
The mime, "Naani ki Kahani-Tab aur Ab" left a deep impact on its smart-phone-using audience. In the first scene a bunch of small children are enjoying stories that their grandmother is telling them. The stories keep the kids engrossed and create very healthy atmosphere surrounding the grandmother with intimacy. In the next scene children seem to have grown up and while listening to grandmother's story, everybody is engrossed in his or her mobile, barely attentive towards the story. This makes her sad for a while but she big-heartedly forgives her little grandchildren. When the children realize their stupidity, they apologize to her for their disrespectful behavior. She showers love on them and asks if they want to hear another story. Kiran Janve as grandma did a great job and portrayed the strayed
emotions of an old person living in the smart-phone-generation. Other actors Gulab Noor Khan, Mubin khan, Shubhangi Rathore, Richa Sharma, Shubham Sharma, Sunil tank, Bhupendra singh Rawat, Akhil Nair and little Angel Sukhwani were impressive too.
Another mime, "Dekho Beti Baadal Aaye" was a fine poetic rendition of a poem by well known Educationist and Philosopher Ramesh Thanvi. It showcased the joys of little children welcoming the first rains of the monsoon. The act was very well conceived and choreographed with great music and lighting effects. Darshil Sankhla, Angel Sukhwani, Gautam Bhatnagar, Pihu Singh, Harvardhan Singh Tank, Swarnam Saikhedkar and Tanzeem Khan played their parts beautifully and made the audience fall in love with rains. Lighting effects designed by Siddhant Bhatnagar and Rekha Sisodia, and musical effects by Bhuvan Sharma and Jovial Sinha were worth praising. The entire show was conceived, designed and directed by senior drama director and Mime exponent Vilas Janve, who put his soul in each act and made it into a memorable show. The show was the result of the mime workshop, which took place every morning from 7am to 9am starting from 6th June.
Vilas Janve believes in making his actors to not just imitate, or enact, but to be original thinkers.Vilas used all the Rasas in these mimes involving "Aangik', "Aaharya" and "Satvik" forms of acting.Vilas Janve said that each actor must ask and know about his character fully and be aware of each and every movement on stage. But at the same time, it is also the duty of the director to explain and sketch out the details of the characters to each actor. Janve doesn't like using his actors as mere instruments, and rather treats them as imaginative, creative human beings. While on stage, it is the actor who sway the audience through his or her acts. And for that the actor must understand the moment and the his or her due responsibility for that moment. Janve hopes that some of the workshop participants would be able to create their own Mimes on their choice of themes, and keep the future of this rare performing art alive and bright.
Dr. Arun Jain (professor at IIT,Varanasai) found the show very professional and really enjoyed the performances of the young ones. Thakur Bhupendra Singh Auwa, Admn.Chief of the City Palace appreciated the efforts of the whole cast of 25 people to bring together this amazing show. Mayur Patil was amazed by the multitasking done by the actors who also handled music, lights and sound effects, while also acting on front stage. Manoj Sukhwani, Sr. Bank Manger was overwhelmed with the performance of his daughter Angel and was happy with her progress during workshop. Satish Saikhedkar, President of Mahrastra Samaj congratulated Martand Foundation for its initiation of such valuable cultural activities in Maharastra Bhavan.
