'Patloon' Review

On 16th May 2022, Bahrupiya Natak Mandali presented a heart melting and flavourful satire, Patloon written by Manish Joshi ‘Bismil’. The immensely talented artists, well articulated direction and beautiful presentation succeeded in keeping the audience hooked to the seats all through.

Theme

The story revolves around Bhagwan, an elderly shoe polisher surviving off only Rs 5 per customer. All day long he tries his best, but is unable to satisfy them due to his age and the lack of required skills. He spoils their trousers every now and then, which leaves them enraged. Bhagwan learns from one of them that a man’s trousers are his status symbol, not everyone can ‘afford’ to be respected. Poor Bhagwan, who never wore anything else than a ragged lungi, is now challenged by the man to buy a pair on his own. Bhagwan’s madness begins when he ‘falls in love’ with a pair of pink trousers at a showroom. To his shock, it costs Rs 1500 but determined to buy it, he gears up to accumulate the required cash. The story proceeds with elements like Situational Humor, Satire, Literary Realism, Double Entendre, Black Comedy and Romance (with the glamourous personified trousers). A series of events depict the simultaneous elevation of his superficial desire, with the deterioration of his health with age.

Remarkable Performances

The audience was fed with a variety of emotions throughout. The versatile performances of the artists proved an icing on the cake. Listing out some notable ones:

Bhagwan (The Protagonist)

Played by Sourabh Sharma, highly appreciable for the character demeanor. It’s a challenge for a young artist to play an old man, but what’s even more challenging is performing different stages of old age itself. In the storyline, this character ages over years with the proceeding events and it was highly evident less through the dialogues, more through Sourabh’s well versed body language.

Lottery Wala (The Sootradhar)

Played by Rizwan Soorya, also the director of this play. Much appreciation to him for his spontaneity, pleasant stage presence and interaction with the audience. He justified the role and effortlessly kept the play and its audience bound together.

Pocha Sardar (Bhagwan’s Angry Customer)

Played by Rohan Mehta. This particular character stood out because of a well balanced performance. The controlled and composed form of dealing with this loud character made it a success for Rohan.

Madari aur Jamura

Played by Abhishek Thorat and Tinu respectively. The coordination between this duo is highly commendable. Their act was a good combination of vibrance and intensity. Jamura’s fierceness drew the audience to the edges of their seats.

Target (Bank Loan Agent)

Played by Abhinay Kumar, this character was a beautiful comic relief. His synchronization with the voiceover of his phone’s ringtones was fascinating. The comic timing and controlled punch delivery successfully made the audience burst into hysterics.

Darji (Homosexual Tailor)

Played by Danish Dil, this one was a pure eye candy. His graceful conduct, adorableness and ability to draw empathy from the audience was much appreciable.

Experience

A play is marked successful when it is able to establish a heart-to-heart connection with the audience. This one gave out loads of opportunities to empathize and relate with every character.

Not to forget, some humorous bloopers and incidents that are the ‘jaan’ of a live show. An epic moment which the audience won’t forget was when the lights turned on before Bhagwan could acquire his mark on stage. Sourabh Sharma had to dive from his left wing, all the way to the right. It was the beginning of an emotional sequence but for around a minute the audience, as well as the artists, laughed uncontrollably. It is highly appreciable how this was later covered up tactfully.

The real review of any play is in the ambience that the audience creates throughout the show. It was spellbinding to see everyone having a great time.

Cast:

Priya Parmar - Patloon

Mikhaila - Foreigner 1

Abhinay Kumar - Doctor, Chorus, Behra Ballu, Target

Rohan Mehta - Pilot, Pocha, Foreigner 2

Abhishek Thorat - Cricketer, Madari

Danish Dil - Engineer, Langda, Darji

Sourabh Sharma - Bhagwan

Rizwan Soorya - Lotriwala

Lucky Sharma - Hamja (Lotriwala’s friend), Akhbar wala, Kabaddi guy 1, Sale wala

Rohit Sawarn - Bhatta Maalik, Kabaddi Guy 2, Andha

Raj Gupta - Chorus, Chedi 420 (Paanwala Aashiq)

Aakash Dwivedi - Graahak

Vartik Das - Showroom Maalik

Tinu - Jamura

For updates, follow us on Instagram : Bridge Blog