Blackbird: Filmi mind @ a play
I begin this post with a solemn prayer to Lord CinemaIndra that may the producer-exhibitor stand-off get over soon or we cinephiles might soon have to regress and begin to write about stardust awards, saas-bahu soaps or random PFC meets that never happened. So, getting back about what this post was about – BLACKBIRD, a play that I saw today.
I had absolutely no business to watch this play, but what sucked me in was the guy on the poster. I had last seen him in RGV’s Company. He was the guy who plays ‘Vilas Pandit’, Malik’s manager or its equivalent in bhai-lingo. All these years I never though of him beyond Vilas Pandit. Now I know his name – Akash Khurana. Yes!
Once in, I took a close look at the ticket and to my horror underneath the name of the play it said ‘a tragic romance’. Damn. Now that was the last thing I wanted to see on a B E A U tiful Sunday noon, but now my fate was sealed. Man, am I happy or what that I saw the play! It was awesome and had enough meat to invoke an aspiring filmmaker (yours truly) to make a film on the same lines. ;-)
A friend of mine was recently goading me to watch ‘Dead Poets Society’ and he began to explain at length what the story was about. When he was done I said – Mohabbatein. He was a bit embarassed but said yes… erm may be yes. YES. So what I am trying to say is that Blackbird can also be adapted into a ‘family entertainer’. Cuz the play was not. 15 mins into the play & a family sitting next to me had to ask their 12-15 yr. daughter to leave due to the daring nature of the story. Daring it was.
What a journey that play was for me. It started at paedophilia & ended (IMO) somewhere bordering on Yash Chopra School of Romance, which I subscribe to. It was like Dev.D meets Darr. There were 2 protagonists in the play. Vilas Pandit or AK playing the old man & the girl-child subjected to abuse played amazingly by Shernaz Patel who I would like to work with, some day.
The play was about the mono-on-mono of an abuser and abusee. The abuser had served jail-time and has moved on in life. The abusee is still dealing with the trauma, on a daily basis. When the abuser asks her why is she still thinking about it, she says there is nothing to think. It is there. Man it did silence the audience.
Now the whammy for me was that they weren’t the abuser and abusee. They actually loved each other then & still do, the impact of which can only come out when you see the play. My words are failing me here, but hell, it was terrific. It reminded me of dabba’s post When Love Dies. After watching the play blackbird, it just got reinforced that love never dies. If it does then it wasn’t love in the first place. IMO. (Hey dabba, to each his own). Reminds me of that cheesy for some, awesome for me, dialogue from Mohabbatein –
“Main aaj bhi us se utni moabbat karta hoon. Is liye nahin ki koi aur mili nahi. Is liye kyon ki us se pyar karne se fursat hi nahi milti.”
Yea, so that’s how my Sunday turned out to be… by revisiting some memories which I hold very dear to me, by finding the real name of Vilas Pandit & by seeing the first smooch ever in a play. ;-)
Tags: Akash Khurana, Blackbird, Company, magik, mohabbatein, Play, rgv, romance, Shernaz Patel, SRK, Theater, tragic, Vilas Pandit, Yash Chopra
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
et tu Magik, in Rangashankara…yeah it was a really good play…the acting was never over the top…last week’s Basheer plays were also good..I am sort of a regular there…
Just adding more info on this one..Blackbird is a desi adaptation of the original http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(play) by David Harrower…nevertheless it was good…
hey ram, cool yaar! if u see a worn-out kurta -torn jeans specimen lurking around with a pack of classic milds & a lighter, that would be me! Do say hi. will see you there!
I havent seen the play..but i remember Akash Khurana. But after reading your post, i wud like to see it once.
Oye Magik, Magik Oye.
~Ashu Bhai MAPRM Wale
don’t miss the play buddy! its a bbay ka theater company. keep a watch at the prithvi ads.
Magik- I really admire Akash Khurana.If you dont mind let me give you a brief about him & no this is not from Wikipedia or Google, its what I know.
He’s an engineer from BIT-Mesra,Ranchi & an MBA from XLRI-Jamshedpur and then went on to get his doctorate from TISS-Mumbai if I’m not wrong.So he has brilliant academic credentials.
And he’s serious about theatre, been acting & directing plays for a long long time.He’s also been a good bollywood actor with lots of movies like Sarfarosh,Saaransh, Daddy,CompanyKrissh & many many more.He also has written screenplay/dialogues for movies like Baazigar,Duplicate,Black & White etc.He is a visiting professor @ TISS-Mumbai & hold your breath he was also the MD & CEO of Nimbus communications ( dunno if he’s still with them ).
In fact I was fortunate to spend an hour with him while he was revisited his/my campus to give a lecture.He was very happy to know my hostel room # because he used to be staying in the room right adjacent to mine, but that was some 25 years before my time
hey magik…i was sad when i read ‘pfc meets that never happened’…lets meet soon yaar. i m swamped with work at office, hoping to keep my place there lest they kick me out :(
.
nice post…
@ Sethu: thanks a lot for the value add. Did you meet him after or before the release of Company?
@ crazyrals: lets meet up one of these weekends.
@ Magik- met him just a few months before Company released.Actually I already knew ( matlab recognised him) from before.Just before I joined B.school I got to know that he is an alumnus & felt happy that there are filmy folks coming out of B.school too.
@ Sethu: bro, i guess its time u join the tribe of b.Schoolers in films! All da best!
@ Magik- tumhare mooh mein ghee&shakkar daloon ya vodka/rum?
@ Sethu: main madira nahi peeta. mandira chalegi! LOL. LOL. LOL.
@ Magik- hmm thoda intezaar karo, usko S.A se lautne to do LOL LOL LOL