King of Spades

As the classical Bollywood number goes ,” Ae dil hai mushkil jeena yahan, zara hatke zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!” While it is still the city of aspiration and dreams, majorly due to Bollywood , once you land up the problems of this metropolis hit you. Bad roads, Noise, Water/Electricity problems, Neighbours who behave like strangers etc are just a few ones that the hustle bustle of the city hides behind its glowing lights. Whether you own a house or are a tenant, the experience or rather exposure to the crumbling infrastructure of the city sucks you in. Yet ask any true blue Mumbaikar and the response will be” Mumbai jaisi koi jagah nahi hai Boss!. Mein toh yahi settle hoga. Iss city   mein kuch toh baat hai!” This is exactly the Dna of Balwinder Siddhu aka Bubbles( Rajit Kapur).  A financial executive who has poured out his life’s savings into an upper rise in Mumbai. Giving him company is his parsi wife Behruz (Shernaz Patel). In spite of living in a fa...

Had heard quite a lot about this play Massage. Besides being in the running for quite a few years now, what intrigued me was the concept of one guy playing plays 24 characters. The main protagonist was essayed by Rakesh Bedi, who is more known for his comic roles in Bollywood, but has more to him that just comedy. This play is a testimonial to that.  A seasoned actor in a play written by a seasoned playwright Vijay Tendulkar is a double whammy for any theatre lover. Had missed watching it on a couple of occasions earlier, hence this Sunday when I got to know that Massage was to be staged in Matunga, booked it at the first go. The play essentially is about the struggle that lakhs of Indians face when they come to the dream city of Mumbai, lured by the prospect of becoming a Bollywood star. Happy Singh as the name suggests is a happy go lucky guy who comes to Mumbai to chase his dreams of becoming an actor. Starts his struggle with an internship as the 4 th  assistant dire...

“Dost, chaar small dena”! In any other situation this would have sounded like an order at a bar counter but here we were finally, after braving the horrible traffic of a typical Mumbai evening, at the booking window of Prithvi Theater,Juhu. Chaar Small by T-Pot productions was playing that evening. A collection of 4 short stories centered around a bar is what one could guess, from the poster displayed outside the venue. The humour was served right on toast by the cast, with an introductory aarti asking the viewers to put their phones on silent!  Pretty innovative I thought. The lighting, set, innovative posters (one to back the above aarti), a superb live band etc just created the perfect ambience for the spirits to soar further! Once the stories/acts start spanning out one after the other, you realize that the common link in all of these is not the bar but it is the city of Mumbai. The city of aspirations and thus migrations, underlying issues and yes humanity or what is famous...

Hi Guys, For all those who haven’t read my first post- The date.  Please do so. This sequel will connect better then. The setting was near perfect. The red sun was kissing down slowly on the sands. The water seemed to glow softly even as the sky changed its colour to a dark orange. The wind blew slowly and brought with it the aroma of the sea. As Ved stretched himself in this setting, there was but just one difference. Years ago he used to be sitting on the sands amongst the common folk, now he was in his private space. A sea facing, very own private front which was exclusive to him. Beaches always used to fascinate him since childhood. The sands seemed alive, bustling with soo much energy and activity of the people who moved in it , yet the water and the winds had their own soothing effect .   A complete mismatch of energies, yet so perfect.  It was probably the co-existence of madness and stillness at one place which drew him to beaches. He had always des...

There she was…by the side of the window..a bit scared,a bit confused and with an expression that would put alice in wonderland to shame! She looked totally out of place. Ya, she was sitting in a local train, but in a crowded gents compartment! He wondered how a girl all alone by herself would have chosen to get into a gents compartment and that too when the rush hour has just started. At first glance their eyes met , as he jostled his way into the inside compartment of the local train. An old man who was sitting beside the girl got up and he sat beside her. She smiled when he sat and he smiled back. After two more stations and a never ending silence he decided to break the ice. “So what’s your name?”....he asked . Kanjurmarg!.....pat came the reply. What! He replied , a bit shocked at the reply. “No No sorry is this kanjurmarg?” She enquired. No, kanjurmarg was two stations back, u wanted to get down there is it? He asked. “ No No not at all…just asking!...” she replied . ...

The 30th of April in the summer of 2009. Possibly the most talked about, hyped and eagerly awaited date in the recent history of Mumbai. Most talked about by the NGOs who wanted people to come out and exercise their right to vote. Hyped by the media who needed fodder to run their 24x7 news channels and ... Eagerly awaited by the politicians so that they can remove their goody-goody masks after the day. Among all of these was the common man, yours truly included who were waiting to vote for a change. After all,things were different this time.Mumbai was held hostage for 3 days and the Mumbaikars for many more. Some survivors still recounting the horror that they had to face and the ones who lost their dear ones,for them god knows how many days will it take to overcome the fear and shock of the terror attack. It was the 26th of November. Actually the drama began at midnight, when terrorists from across the border entered Mumbai and created havoc on the streets, platforms and tou...