MAGGIE THOMAS
January 22nd 2008
Thank you for a lovely evening with Sangati Arinhya. Just seeing
those two words made me very nostalgic. I could almost hear them, the
intonation, which took me back to my youth in Calicut.
I must confess that I was somewhat relieved that the script was in
English and "ordinary" Malayalam. Moplah Malayalam is very
distinctive, attractive, but not always easy to comprehend, especially
if you have been away from it for a long time.
I thought the play was very well done. Amusing, yes, but the
underlying sorrow made it poignant.
After the interval the scene that was set described a place/space that was very different from that of Bhargavi Nilayam. The Afghanistan(?) vignette where Basheer got robbed was fearful,made almost sinister by the bright, beautiful and glittering materials that were draped at the back of the stage and the costume of the dancer which contrasted with the squalour of the surroundings. The fearfulness of what happened to Basheer was leavened by the unexplained generosity of the Chief.
I could have sat through another two hours without fatigue -- which is
something, considering how ancient I am.
I thought the sets were clever. They didnt distract from what was
happening and yet played an important role in the scheme of things.
