A twisted take
Is blood thicker than water? Does family mean everything even with power? Is revenge sweet? Nimmy Raphel’s twisted take on The Ramayana tells the story of Bali in the perspectives of different characters. The dead Bali; Sugriva his brother, the grief stricken; Tara, the revengeful son, greedy Rama; every voice is heard. Nonetheless, the excessive comic relief showing sibling rivalry confused the plot for the audience leaving little room for sentimental value for characters. Bali hinted on the injustice of the story. Nevertheless, its disrupted flow provided little take away for the audience.
- Sarah Samuel, Bengaluru
Clever direction
Nimmy Raphel’s Bali retells the ancient epic with poignancy and wit. Each scene accounts the events of the tale and their consequences from a different perspective, each with a different tone and energy. Raphel cleverly places amusing mime sketches in between each scene, which keeps the play entertaining without detracting from the serious tone, and portrays the pettiness between siblings that eventually led to Bali’s death.
- Anna Duncan, Ootacamund
The human in God
The take on one of the most debated topics of The Ramayana, on the story of Bali by AdiShakti theatre directed by Nimmy Raphel is a visually stunning production with great acting, contemporary and quirky background score. But what makes this production introspective for audience in today’s context is the human quest for glory, the arrogance of one’s power, opportunism et al that you see in every-day life. The intelligent euphemisms that interlude the play with the notions of good and not so good is mere perception of oneself and us collectively as a society. Be it the desperation to want what somebody has or the fact that good and bad can co-exist in the minds of people. It is a different look at our belief and value system; divinity is a reflection of human mind and Purushotama himself can be more human at times. The audacity to portray this story as a part of the scriptures and see the human in God is where lies the greatness of our ancestors, transcending the story across generations for us to debate, introspect and contextualize it today’s world.
- Rajesh Subramanian, Alwarpet, Chennai