|
Pen Bimbangal
 Obsessions, even if they are magnificent, produce invariably, disastrous results. Gitanjali's Amirtham Gopal (Producer) teaches us this lesson unforgettably through the play ‘Pen Bimbangal’ (‘the images of woman’), staged at the Rani Seethai Hall, recently.
Editor SSK (Power Gopal), of a popular Tamil weekly, engages dynamic writer Kalyan (K Raja) and imaginative artist Anand (Balaji), to run a weekly serial jointly, to substantially boost his magazine’s circulation. His hopes are fully justified.
However, writer Kalyan’s true–to–life character sketches infuriate guilty minds which cause loss in advertisement revenue to the magazine. On the other hand, artist Anand gets obsessively involved with his creations to unimaginable levels, specially the heroine Apoorva. A stage is reached when writer Kalyan is forced to ‘kill’ his heroine and remove her from the serial. The artist protests, begs, cajoles vehemently, on bended knees too. The editor supports the writer. Events reach a stage where the artist stabs the writer violently, in a fit of passion. However, Kalyan survives.
The twist is, Apoorva, a product of Anand's imagination, has a look-alike in advocate Prathima (whom the writer Kalyan loves and, therefore, views artist Anand as a potential rival in love), whose fine sensibilities enable her review the hidden nature of these individual obsessions, objectively. She defends the accused artist in court and, by forceful logic, true perspectives, and with the help of loopholes in law as well, manages to get the artist absolved of his crime. Writer Kalyan also helps. A corrupt policeman gets justly hoisted with his own petard. Prathima ‘invites’ writer and artist for her marriage. Both realize their mistakes and return to serious business. Anand takes up his dreamy obsession yet again, only this time, as a harmless pastime. He will get rid of his obsession in due course, of course, so we should believe.
The play is quite powerfully presented. All the artists turn in commendable portrayals. Advocate Prathima (Subha Ganesh) appears to be artificially casual at times. All of them have their obsessions. For that matter, almost all of us too have. If these obsessions can be controlled and checked within reasonable limits, life could be purposively pleasant. If, however, these are unchecked and unreasonably let loose, the consequences could be disastrous. Involvement is welcome, but not to the exclusion of reason and other healthy responsibilities.
Seasoned story–dialogue writer and director Augusto has taken up a sensitive, not-entirely-off-beat theme, and handled it in a praiseworthy manner. The dialogues have plenty of punch, more often than not. Nachuvai Naga(Palani), corrupt Inspector Sultan Mohideen (Ramaramanujam), Ravi (Bala) and Manager Pothilingam (Balakrishnan) play their side-roles as required. Stage assistance reveals experience. Verdict- a very good play with more merits and forgivable faults.
R Srinivasan
18-A, 10, Main Road,
R A Puram,
Chennai -28
Phone - 24355576
Published on 18thFeb, 2004
More
Articles
|
