A Kind of True Story’ that narrates the story of eight different characters living in Mumbai was staged here on Friday at Antarang Hall, Bharat Bhavan.
Directed by Kalyani Hiwale, the play is written by Rahul Bagga and Balaji Gauri and was wonderfully performed by the artistes from Mumbai.
The play beautifully brings out the uniqueness of each character even though their life appears pretty similar. Just like every one of us, these characters have high hopes, big dreams, are imperfect, vulnerable and so on.
A kind of true story celebrates the ordinary, those who have not tasted ‘success’, through an hour and a half long journey on stage. The seven characters seem to tumble out of a writer’s imagination but they are also quite rooted in reality.
Sameer Sheikh is the writer in question who rents a house in a building that’s being eyed for redevelopment. The rest of the cast are the writer’s neighbours and the play explores the various facets of their lives. The characters come together to support and protest, the building’s reconstruction as well as portray their personal story lines. That’s eight separate and one collated story unraveling in a span of 90 minutes.
The different stories include the story of a handicapped singer, who is also an aspiring actress. The schoolteacher, who is also a closet cross-dressing singer, finds support in the social activist in spearheading the fight against redevelopment. But when the social worker is thrown out of her rented apartment she finds no support from the teacher or her ‘boyfriend’, who also lives in the same building.
The actors appear genuine as they convey their aspirations, hopes, dreams and fears. That makes their stories stand out in the entire ensemble.
It was a musical play that had a lot of music for different situations. The play was appreciated by the audience.