The preview for Irawati Karnik's SATELLITE CITY mentions a dialogue - "I see my hand turn it on. And see my eyes and a part of my brain agree. And the part that sort of doesn't just goes quiet and allows it... and then participates... or goes too numb to care. It's... comforting. But sometimes, not often, it suddenly makes me crave my patch of sky." That is what the idiot box does to one of the characters, and perhaps most of us at the end of a hard day's work. Some are comforted by the numbness on offer, others are turned off by the brainless antics beamed out by the television set. Karnik's play looks at the people who create what goes on air. From the head of the production house to the creative head, a production controller, a security guard, an out-of-work writer and actress and, for brief moments, their families claim their space in 'Satellite City'.
Essentially, the script flits from one predicament to another. The jobless writer is desperately looking for inspiration for a new soap, the creative head is trying to prove her worth at a new workplace, the production controller does not know where he will be five years from now, the security guard wants to hold onto a job in a hostile city, the actress struggles to maintain her dignity while going to endless auditions and finally, the loud producer wants to rake in as much TRP, and therefore money, as possible. In chasing their dreams, these people have forgotten themselves. Most don't seem troubled by their predicament though, except for the young creative head from Nashik.
For most of the first half of the play, SATELLITE CITY appears as a set of disconnected scenes held together only by the fact that these are characters related to the TV industry. The lack of a coherent flow leaves you toiling to connect with the characters. The abrupt light plan does not help (there were times when blackouts happened even as the actors were mouthing their dialogues) and neither does the matter of the actors straining to make an exit in the short blackouts. But these are issues that a good tech run can easily resolve. The lengthy first half is something that the director and playwright might want to consider when/if they bring back the play on stage.
The best moments of the play are reserved for the second half. When the production controller (played by Tariq Vasudeva - he really should come up with a new way of dealing with onstage break ups, lying frustrated on the floor is so obviously borrowed from his character in NOSTALGIA BRAND CHEWING GUM) meets his estranged father, the father tries to understand what exactly his son might be doing for a living. As he explains his position, the young man realises just how far he has drifted from his dream of becoming a director. The lives of other characters also unravel one by one but it's this particular scene that stands out. Perhaps that's because we're rather familiar with subjects like the casting couch, the death of creativity and personal loss.
SATELLITE CITY is interesting because it explores a side of the entertainment industry that most of us don't witness. It's also interesting that the entire set is in 'grayscale' - even the characters are dressed in black and white -- juxtaposed against the vivid voice- overs of scenes from reality TV shows, cricket matches and saas bahu sagas. But perhaps the play needs to be a little more crisp so that it does not take as long to get to the crux of the matter.
*Aditi Sharma enjoys watching theatre and writing about it.
