Drama of contrasting attitudes

The adaptation is not as crisp as the original but Yatrik's ``I'm not Sheikh Chili'' manages to be a close parallel, a few weakspots notwithstanding, writes ELIZABETH ROY.

LAST WEEK we had a second version of `` I'm Not Rappoport'' playing at Museum Theatre. Five years ago Klass Promotios came down with ``I'm Not Bajirao'' written and directed by Rahul de Cunha. It jerked tears and much laughter. The expatriates from Mumbai who thronged the hall turned limp with nostalgia. So when Yatrik (Delhi) came down with their version, ``I'm Not Sheikh Chili'', many people returned to enjoy it afresh.

``I'm Not Rappoport'', which began the activity in India, was the best play of the 1985-86 season on Broadway. It also won a Tony Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. The play is about the friendship between two men - Nat, an old Jew, and Midge, an old black janitor - both into their 80s, trying to sort out their past and present. They are both survivors and spend their afternoons on the same bench in front of an arched tunnel running under a Romanesque bridge in Central Park. Nat admits that his pretence at being an escaped Cuban terrorist is only what he calls a ``cover story.'' He is really an expert manipulator and attracts the attention of his bench mate with tall tales when all his bench mate wants is to be left alone. The crux of the story is the contrasting attitudes. In order to give dramatic expression to the contrast, Gardner brings on a parade of characters and further cranks up the action with a sadistic hooligan and a drug dealer. At unexpected moments, the play surprises the audience with flashes of wisdom and humour.

Though Rahul Cunha's adaptation lost out on the crispness of the original, it ran a close parallel to the original. Avijit Dutt's ``I'm Not Sheikh Chili'' in its turn seems to be based on Bajirao rather than on Rappoport and as a result moved further away from the original. In fact Chili has a lot of its dialogue in common with Bajirao.

Action shifts from Five Gardens in Mumbai to Delhi. The Mahrashtrian ex-freedom fighter changes into a politically fired Bengali and the old maintenance man Batliwala changes into an old Anglo Indian.

Sheikh Chili presented an assortment of characters, culture and region specific, with their clearly defined accents. Anglo Indian Nat King Cole (Omkar Goswami) and the Delhi-Punjabi Malhotra (Tajeesh Nippun Singh) were most interestingly drawn.

Two other characters who turned in very good performances were the goonda and the drug dealer - Kallu (Ashutosh Porus) and Munna (Aubin Sebastian). They were too real for art.

Sheikh Chili however had one too many weak spots. The delightful collision between the bench mates did not come through strongly enough (It is precisely this quality that sets a premium on old age.) In fact the game of I'm not Sheikh Chili was not played right and was lost on the audience, so were the laughs. In addition Goswami could not be heard beyond the first few rows and this unfortunately further dropped the pace of the play. In contrast, there was very loud, very energetic music in abundance. Part of the reason why the play did not take off was that the bench mates were played as doddering old men with unclear speech and draped over their walking sticks. Concentrating the play downstage minimised acting space and further crowded it.

Despite the drawbacks, the audience gave them an appreciative hand bringing into focus the point of the play that old age is precious in its own way. It is a necessary and integral part of life. Youth and old age complement each other and temper life. You can't discard the old. They are your future.

As Das tells the smooth talking secretary of the building's cooperative society, ``You collect old furniture, old caps, old pictures, everything old except old people. Bad souvenirs, they talk too much... You idiots, don't you know?'' Fact remains, most of us do not know.

Yatrik gave two performances at Museum Theatre and a preview working together with Welcomgroup Chola Sheraton and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited to raise funds for Aasha, a support group for schizophrenics in Chennai.

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