Review: MALGUDI KE GAON SE at Akshara Theatre

Our fascination for R K Narayan and his world of innocence is never ending and it is precisely this nostalgia that brings out the best of 'Malgudi Ke Gaon Se'. Rahul Saini's Malgudi is resplendent with the same old charming characters from a colonial India, fighting and finding easy resolutions for their daily hassles.

'Malgudi ke gain se' employs its large cast effectively in portraying the plot through reactions and dialogue. The writers stick to Narayan's classic understanding of India and its larger ideological problems in the microcosm they build for Radha and the grief that surrounds her upon her father's death. The themes bring out a mourning community and the absenting reality of his presence in memory, art and morale.

The play invests ample time in establishing the middle class household and its charming preoccupations. It establishes Radha's father's role as the patriarch and a loving father; making sure that the economic and emotional hardships that follow find the desired catharsis. Both Prerna and Aartika are a class act in their honest depiction of a negligent, harmless and lovable Radha.

The costumes, the ever-present flute music and the colloquialisms of Narayan's Malgudi are brought out through the secondary characters albeit not with a serious effort in the script. The dialogues and the nuances remain slightly at contrast because of floating accents and some caricature depictions (like that of Samuel) and thus they become merely comical, minus the large socio-political baggage that they carry. Narayan employed several plots to criticize the colonial education system and corporal punishment, the play however seems to boil it down to brawls and comic episodes. However, these scenes found ample audience approval as they were met with fits of laughter, amplifying the creators' take on the episodes as more jovial than commentary.

The fourth wall is broken often adding to the easy chaos that the play intends to create. The stage is used effectively, using lights for defining the settings and moods of the characters. The flickering light in the cinema hall stands out and brings out Radha's stubbornness.

It is a lengthy play and often breaks flow but by virtue of the ethos it builds itself in, there are ample references to Narayan, Faulkner and other thinkers of the rural that let a conscious viewer brood and contemplate. It tickles and is nostalgic of a past India and its new found urbane will never forget.

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Picture Credit: Avjit Newark and Rahul Saini

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