BHARATI PAWASKAR
When it comes to love unconditionally, take sides and stand as a strong support system, nobody but the grandparents can play the role perfectly for their young grandchildren. But unfortunately, today’s nuclear family concept has pushed the grandparents on a back seat. Senior citizens are no longer welcomed in cosy urban family nests and little children of working parents are missing the bedtime story telling hours with their grandparents who had lot of time on hand to spend with them. Introducing this forgotten sweet bond to today’s generation in the form of a Marathi play, the newly formed Shunya Events is bringing Dear Aajo to Goan audience as the first event under their flagship.
Shanu is a pampered, carefree teenager living blissfully in Atlanta until one day, when fate plays foul and her life changes overnight. Therefore she is sent to India to live with her grandfather. Shanu and her Aajo are starkly opposite and here begins an interesting friction of personalities and ideologies. Their journey together is an interesting roller coaster which makes you laugh, cry and ponder on certain rigid social beliefs. Eventually she starts questioning the set pattern of social rituals much to her Aajo’s agony as he prefers to abide by old social norms. But ultimately when time to marry comes, it’s she who puts forth before her to-be-husband, the condition of accepting herself along with her Aajo in her new home marking the end of their lonely journey.
Shunya Events intends to bring meaningful shows that will entertain, engage, educate and create a truly memorable experience. Shunya would focus on Marathi drama and music in future too.
Shunya is the source of the creation of this universe and it’s again the same shunya in which the universe will submerge and sublime, says Indian ideology and picking up the name Shunya Events for their joint venture, young entrepreneurs Sweta Sardessai and Trisha Shankwal have shown their affirmation in this timeless and ageless concept in Indian philosophy.
Deliberating on their creative concept Sweta affirms that “Audience is a genuine collaborator in theatre, and theatre is fully alive when it meets its audience. It is in that moment that it bursts fully into life. Shunya aims to connect theatre with audience.” She hopes to stir the minds of the audience, churning their emotions along with the solo and lone journey of two diverse personalities in Dear Aajo that ultimately arrive at a happy ending.
“It’s a fact that theatre, in all forms, has always attracted crowd in Goa, we expect our first show to be houseful and a success,” feels Sweta. With veteran actor Sanjay Mone and upcoming actress Mayuri Deshmukh, Dear Aajo should be a big draw with Goan crowds. Mayuri is a known name for Goan audience who have appreciated her role of Manasi in Khulta Kali Khulena.
Sweta’s partner at Shunya Events, Trisha Shankwal, is yet to step out of her college. A final year computer engineering student, Trisha seems to be good at organising event and activities throughout her school and college days. An avid reader who loves to paint, Trisha reasons why the duo zeroed on Dear Aajo - “A play should connect with the audience. It should have a message for the society. It should also be entertaining. Dear Aajo is a wonderful family drama depicting a relationship between different generations. The play, with its popular actors, has been a great success with 50 shows in six months. We would be selecting popular commercial drama and music shows too.”
Does the audience in Goa have time, patience and enthusiasm to watch melodramas? Sweta’s reply is affirmative, “Good theatre has been missing, as I said earlier. I’m sure there is a sizeable audience waiting for such events to unfold on the Goan stage. Goans are generally theatre loving people but recently due to various factors, there haven’t been much theatre staged here. It’s an earnest attempt to bring back the good old days.”
Beginning from the emotional churning in Dear Aajo, the duo wish to stir up the audience as the play has a good storyline.
Right Pricing is the key to success of play, believes Sweta. “Being commercial production from Mumbai, the travel and set-up cost of production team is a major component and as such the pricing has to be balanced. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, more so, in the creative field. I felt that the audiences in Goa, of late, is missing good theatre and Shunya will try to fill that void and bring meaningful plays to our state,” quips Sweta, a BSc physics graduate, who is actively involved in lot of community service activities in her spare time. ‘Shunya’ will keep Sweta and Trisha engaged and involved as the duo are keen in bringing quality programmes to Goa in the coming months.
(Dear Aajo will be staged at Kala Academy, Panaji on October 22 at 7.30 pm)
