Narenatplay

(Pic credit: Aadyam Instagram page) BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Saanp Seedhi/ Hindi play Director : Shubrajyoti Barat Writer : Akarsh Khurana, adapting from Anthony Schaffer's Sleuth Cast : Kumud Mishra, Sumeet Vyas Theatre company : D For Drama, for Aadyam's Season 7 Rating : *** 1/2 Almost 45 years ago, while in school, I had watched the 1972 film Sleuth , starring Laurence Olivier as crime fiction author Andrew Wyke and Michael Caine as hairdresser Milo Tindle, his wife Marguerite's lover. I remember it as being heavy on dialogue but gripping and intense. Years later, I saw the 2007 remake, where Michael Caine switches roles to play Andrew and Jude Law comes in as Milo. Cut to March 2025, and we have the Hindi adaptation Saanp Seedhi , originally written by Anthony Shaffer for the 1970 play and scripted by Akarsh Khurana. Directed by Shubrajyoti Barat, it stars Ķumud Mishra, who plays Ajay Wadhwa, the desi version of Andrew, and Sumeet Vyas as Mayank Tiwari, the local Milo. Marg...

  BY NARENDRA KUSNUR The Fantasy Of the Opera (The Phantom Of The Opera is being staged at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre Grand Theatre till March 30) The seat next to me is empty and I am waiting for the drama to begin at the NMACC Grand Theatre. Soon, we are engulfed in the eerie yet melodious magic of the theme music of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera . A gentleman takes his seat next to me, apologising for disturbing my excited humming. In a flash, he is whistling along, as we watch a Parisian theatre memorabilia auction on stage. We are waiting for things to move,  and suddenly Christine comes on stage. I hear a rumble next to me as the heroine sings 'Think Of Me'. I look closely. The stranger next to me has a white mask hiding half his face. His hands are shaking as he holds a rose, given by the staff while entering. He looks like Phantom, and has the same kind of coat and hairdo. He sneers at me, saying in James Bond style, "My name is Cra...