Apurva Avsar play review

Manoj Shah has done it again. After plays like MASTER PHOOLMANI and MAREEZ, he is back with APURVA AVSAR, a play designed to extol the literary, cultural and in this case the philosophical grandeur of the Gujarati intelligentsia. In a scenario where the highly commercialized Gujarati stage has been reduced to a live sitcom show, Shah's work appears committed and refreshing. But then in such an atmosphere it is equally easy to also overrate everything he does. Nevertheless there is merit and a good deal of it in all that he has done to date.

Perhaps that is why it is not very difficult to overlook the tedium of the two and a half hour long biography of the famous Jain seer, philosopher and business man Srimad Rajchandra (1867-1901), which Shah has dramatized along with Raju Dave. The largely narrative style of the play is not so much of a problem as is the almost passive experience of it. Everything is just too good here and too predictable. It is almost like sitting through a discourse on great people and the great lives that they led.

So while you are left to marvel at the things achieved by Shrimad Rajchandra in his short life there is nothing that demands a more active audience participation. There are moments of a philosopher's dilemma with life and the nature of things and of his inner turmoil that resurfaces time and again. But apart from these, the dramatization is exclusively devoted to the greatness of this man who was a child prodigy and who went on to achieve moksha. Once again Dharmendra Gohil turns in a compelling performance as Shrimad Rajchandra. He is indeed one of the finest, young actors that Gujarati theatre has. Pulkit Solanki and Pratik Gandhi who play various characters are pretty good too.

In fact the shift from the narrative mode to a more lively interaction between Srimad Rajchandra and of some of the people in his life, which include Mahatma Gandhi gives the otherwise long drawn affair a dramatic respite. There is enough historical evidence to suggest that Rajchandra was a genius and that he greatly influenced the Mahatma. But the select nature of the dramatization, which cannot help but be subjective, glorifies its subject. And then there is a problem, which is not only apparent but is also a little disturbing. So things like Srimad Rajchandra's near dismissal of Islam in his meeting with Gandhi is something which immediately appeals to the predominantly Gujarati audience.

The literary nature of the script is however fine tuned to the music designed by Suresh Joshi. Both he and Uday Majumdar have also sung the title song for the play. A poetic atmosphere is at once created and this quality was also true of MASTER PHOOLMANI and MAREEZ. The light design by Bhautesh Vyas aids the persona of Srimad Rajchandra and Manoj Shah's direction of the play reads like a fine, orchestrated effort from beginning till end. And yet unlike MASTER PHOOLMANI and to some extent MAREEZ, the subject itself is too obvious for any post show reflection. Srimad Rajchandra's pearls of wisdom apart, this Ideas Unlimited production is kind of disappointing.

*The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre and Performance Studies.