Aao Sathi Sapna Dekhe play review

Actors� Cult's AAO SAATHI SAPNA DEKHE, a dreamlike musical production is a sheer joy to watch. It premiered in 2007 at the Prithvi festival. The play has a simple plot, a familiar ambience, recognizable characters and meaningful dialogues. Its songs are lyrical and its actors are a talented lot. They can dance, sing, perform acrobats, convincingly improvise and make the audience smile through out.
This free adaptation in Hindi is based on Tom Jones� The Fantastic and has been aptly accomplished by Harsh Khurana. It was a refreshing change that the play is set in old Delhi and not in Mumbai. It is able to capture the cultural milieu, characters� age and mood without loosing the simple beauty of common people�s lives; no small achievement. The lyrics penned by the director of the play and the music designed by Sneha Khanwalkar add a joyful theatrical motion to the events.

The director Swanand Kikrkire has done a commendable job of entertaining audiences without compromising on the aesthetic parameters insomuch as the play is treated as a dream minus the reality of chaos! The story revolves around a young boy Baiju and a neighborhood girl Gauraiya. These two children have been brought up by their respective fathers. Now in spite of belonging to different faiths both the fathers connive to bring the children together. Baiju and Gauraiya fall in love and from here on the play takes a philosophical turn, which is revealing of the essence of joy and pain.

So if there is a dream, there is also the harsh reality at the other end. Both ends meet and yet are apart! Thus the boy and girl happily meet. They experience love as well as a painful separation. The storyline appears thin but is well sustained by an imaginative projection of simple events. The characters are full of finer details. The young Baiju is played by Amitosh Nagpal while the young Gauraiya is played by Neha Sharad.

Actor Vinod Rai plays multiple roles and he is exceptionally talented. His speech, voice, movement and expressions are superb. The director as lead singer gives the correct tone to the play and controls its tempo with his powerful and melodious voice. The chorus with its lively dances and songs electrify the stage for two hours. Rarely one comes across a group of such talented actors who are so well co-coordinated.

One of the highlights of the production is the simplicity that comes across in terms of an uncluttered set, plain costumes, light makeup and the use of imaginative properties. In fact the production�s simplicity adds to the surreal quality of the play. Every object and event was personified- the wall between the two houses, musical notes, the moods, the state of theatre, etc was given a human quality; a blooming flower in the garden becomes prince charming, the musical notes make the musician dance as an act of vengeance and so on. The play is full of such innovative and hilarious devices. This doesn�t mean that it lacks a subtle message. The message blooms as the play does.

*The writer is a senior theatre and television person who has trained under Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama (NSD). She has written for publications such as �The Asian Age� and the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). She has also offered theatre training to students at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and is an important critical voice for the Gujarati Theatre.