KALAPI

Produced by Sheela Butala of Shivam Creations, KALAPI is an autobiographical play based on the momentous episodes from the life of the poet Kalapi who was also known as Sursinhji Takthasinji Gohel.

A ruler of a small kingdom in the princely state of Saurashtra, India in the nineteenth century, Kalapi's young life seems to have been replete with political intrigue, the labours of love and of the misgivings that he constantly experienced as prince regent.
The play as rendered by Shivam Creations contains selected excerpts from the original play titled "Rajvi Kavi Kalapi" as penned by writer, Dr. Dhanwant Shah. Since the original version seemed dramatically improbable, given attention spans that are akin to two minute Maggi noodles, the team of KALAPI had no choice but to pick and choose.

The version as one has it now focusses on the young poet's rendevouz with the leading ladies of his life and on his ultimate downfall. The heights of love and the depths of treachery as visualized in the play, are interspersed with the poet's poetry which have been set to music by c.

The set by Chhel Paresh although a bit run-down is aesthetically pleasing in its attempt to recreate the period of the poet's life. Similarly, costumes too make the drama of Kalapi's life come real. Meticulous in detail, the costumes also lend colour to the life and times of this rajvi poet.

Performances on the whole are a tad melodramatic but here is one more play which has aspired to go beyond the innanities of the average Gujarati play these days. Needless to say, it stands out in the teeming mediocrity surrounding it.