Play Review: Classic Milds (8/10)

Light, funny, intriguing, smart and classy. That’s Classic Milds for me. It is a collection of 6 short plays, with no common theme in particular written by legendary playwrights in the hundred years between 1885 and 1985.

Intelligent comedy is a genre of its own. It is also probably the most difficult genre to conceive and enact. The treatment of unique situations is what makes you laugh instead of funny accents, confused make-up or wrongly matched clothes. It is subtle and not on your face. Again, it is intelligent comedy and not “mad-comedy.”

While mad-comedy tends to do really well in our country, with movies like Welcome being big successes; it is rather unfortunate that the rare intelligent comedy kind of entertainment gets unnoticed. I sure hope that plays like this inspire movies too.

Amongst the 6 plays, the best one is saved for last. The Still Alarm by George Kaufman is a beauty while Seduction by Neil Simon is almost as good.

The stories are fantastic, the actors not as good, but even then the experience is very satisfying.

What’s more I got two free tickets on purchasing two. Sold the two that I got free and ended up watching the play free of cost! Thanks to my idiotic mix-up of buying Sunday tickets instead of Saturday’s.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

Play Review: Ismat Aapa ke Naam, Part 1 (9.5/10)

Remember when we you were young? Remember your grandmother’s stories before you went to sleep at night? Remember the days when your forehead never wrinkled with worries? Seems long ago, right?

Relive those days by spending a couple of hours with Naseer-ud-din Shah and his family as they take you along a journey into Ismat Aapa’s land of fiction. Revisit that corner of innocence, which you did not know existed in your mind anymore. Come out and see the world in a new light, at least while the impact lasts. It’s been over 24 hours and I’m still feeling the impact – it’s a high in itself.

Okay, I have to digress here. Unfortunately, or rather sadly, I had not heard of Ismat Chughtai before. The loss was mine. Naseer-ud-din Shah begins the show with an introduction of Ismat Aapa and takes her name alongside O’ Henry.”That might be stretching it a little”, I thought to myself. I’ve read some of O’ Henry’s short stories, and they’re fascinating. But after listening to narrations of three of Ismat Aapa’s Indian, very earthy and captivating stories, I surrendered all my suspicion.

Ismat Aapa ke Naam is a collection of three stories, “Chui Mui”, “Mughal Baccha” and “Gharwali” narrated and acted by Heeba Shah, Ratna Pathak Shaah and Naseer-ud-din Shah, individually, one after the other. So it’s not your conventional play.

Ratna Pathak Shah –I always thought she was nice, but I would never really refer to her as a “beautiful” woman. But that was before this play. As she dresses up in unique attire, kajal in her eyes, and warmth in her persona I realized that this kind of “beauty” is priceless. Her narration of Mughal Baccha is so genuinely surreal.

Post interval is the master himself. Naseer-ud-din Shah has kept the most exciting story under his experienced hands. The expertise with which he conducts himself never stops amazing me. Such a master of his craft. Just look at his eyes – the depth, the experience, the skill, it’s all there. Also in his narration, be prepared to laugh

The lights, set design and background music is simple, yet so perfect.

I’m glad that I’m disproven in my hypothesis that famous actors make not so good plays. (Waiting for Godot, Salesman Ramlal, Kuch bhi ho sakta hai, The Blue Mug)

I’m glad that I could watch this play and experience the magic of Urdu – a truly charming language.

I’m glad I did so with the right people, followed it up with good food, and a solitary car ride home with Fuzon’s Aankhon ke Saagar.