Narenatplay

  BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Mumbai Star/ dance musical play Director : Nadir Khan Producers : Aadyam Theatre, Devika Shahani, The Dragon Rose Project Writers : Akarsh Khurana, Arghya Lahiri  Cast : Avenav Mukherjee, Arushi Nigam, Rajit Kapur, Srishti Shrivastava Rating : ***** ( Pic taken by blogger) -- Dhol bajaa re, dhum dhum bajaa re Dhol bajaa re, dhum dhum bajaa re Behti yeh lehrein, dil ko pukaarein, Jhoom le naach le, masti mein gaa re Yes, the feet tapped, the fingers snapped, the hands clapped. For around 100 minutes, a short break in between, the audience at Bandra's St Andrew's Auditorium on May 24 and 25 was enchanted by a group of 15 dancers presenting a seamless flow of contemporary, jazz, hip-hop dance and Kathak. Mumbai Star , the dance musical, had arrived with a fresh script and two narrators. Produced by Devika Shahani, directed by Nadir Khan and choreographed by Avantika Bahl, it had earlier been showcased as a dance act as part of a festival organised by the Mi...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Those Were The Days/ English play Directors : Vishaal Asrani & Sarosh Nanavaty Cast : Mithil Patel, Sarosh Nanavaty, Sahir Mehta, Shriya Rao, Vishaal Asrani  Theatre company : VAIPA Rating ; *** 1/2 ( The play was staged at the Royal Opera House, Mumbai, on May 11. Top  pic shows Shriya Rao and Sarosh Nanavaty)  Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end. Every time one hears those lines, made famous in Mary Hopkin's 1969 song, one is overcome by nostalgia. The same happened when it was rendered at the beginning of the play Those Were The Days . Directed by Vishaal Asrani and Sarosh Nanavaty, the play used evergreen oldies aa a motif for much of its duration, though some relatively new songs were featured in the second half. The songs were in fact used to connect the dots between the main story, which was themed around two people in love. Flashback to 1984. Aman (played by Sahir Mehta) is working at The Tavern, a bar in the byl...