Various hues of life depicted in 10 plays staged by Stagecraft

Nagpur: Humour, satire and emotions which are inseparable part of life were on display during the ten plays presented in Sugar and Spice round IX, organized by Stagecraft at Matoshri Vimlatai Deshmukh Sabhagruh, Dhanwate National College, on Saturday.
The event started with an emotional thought-provoking drama ‘Meri Dadi Kahan Hai’, directed by Anurima Chakraborty. The play is about a little girl Khushi Mohta who is in search of her grandmother (Jigyasa Bharti). In the process, the girl takes help from an autowala, rabbit, dog, tortoise, lion and bear. The actors were Samvardhan Khandelwal, Ismat Chimthanawala, Viraj Shah, Arundhati Jogdand, Rahul Bhojwani and Pratiksha Kaleshwarwar. The play was written by Padmashree Pande.
‘Happy Meal’, directed by Shivani Joshi and written by Shubhankar Mishra, was full of humour. A girl (Devika Patel) and her friend (Amol Wakhare) have a magic apple through which they can go to any place they wish to. But as an argument ensues, the girl throws away the apple. They are now stuck on a cold mountain peak, but then mother comes to their rescue and gives them a mango through which they can travel even to outer space.
‘Ek Chhoti Si Khwaish’, a satire on the condition of a student, written by Raunak Madne and directed by Anu Sabharwal, tells the story of a girl (Ruhi Khanuja) who is burdened by the wishes of her mother (Anurima Chakraborty) to become a doctor. But her teacher (Anurima Chakraborty) thinks she is dumb. The girl struggles to fulfil her mother’s dream but eventually ends up into depression.
‘Conversations’, directed by Rajat Rajani, dealt with standing up for self and being proud of who you are, was about a young woman (Ayushi Vairagade) opening up to her mother (Maria Shakir) and sister (Avni Jog) being gay. Harshit Verma played the role of a waiter.
‘Chidiya Udd’ was a satire on how today’s generation has lost childhood under the burden of tuition classes and extra-curricular activities. The play, written by Nitish Chandra, was directed by NV Sharma. The cast included Tahir Shibam, Swati Lohe, Riddhi Lohe and Huzefa Kotawala.
Another satire, ‘Three Monkeys & A Like Button’ was based on how our life is being directed by a ‘like’ button of Facebook. The play was written by Jaya Girathe and directed by Maria Shakir. The cast included Shaima Patel, Neelam Singh and Manank Panchmatia.
Emotional play ‘Remembering My Grandmother’ was written by Jaee Jog and directed by Neha Khanzode. The cast included Nivedita Jogdand, Shivani Joshi and Rahul Bhojwani.
‘Nowhere to Play’, written by Bianca Nazareth-Arya and directed by Sonal Bindra, was a satire on how children today do not have a place to play. The cast included Vardaan Anand, Parthiv Banerjee, Harsh Dayaramani and Anu Sabharwal.
‘Loose’ was about how if our parents become care free and never tell us to study and let us do as we wish. The play was written by Onkar Ghare and directed by Sanskruti Bajoria. Shika Kalra, Madhvi Ambhore and Kuldeep Lohe were the actors.
Audience laughed heartily when ‘Andher Nagri Chopat Raja’, written by Shantanu Thengdi and directed by Taher Shibam, was staged. The cast included Samson Aiyub, Shlok Vij, Lalit Ghavghave, Ashwin Shukla, Namrata Shukla, Manank Panchmatia, Sana Thombre and Shubham Veergandham. Lalit. Ghavghave stole the show with his quick wit.
(Reporting by Himesh Pande)