FPS - The Play

A Nutshell Review –
Book costs 100 bucks, ticket costs 200, travel costed 200 and top of all this another 100 for food that night – 600 in total. Was it absolutely worth it, not really. Well read on…

ENJOY THE 1-Minute Teaser

First of all I absolutely loved the book and consequently had huge expectations on how it is going to turn out as a play. It was going to be staged by none other than the troupe ‘Evam’ themselves. Maybe it was just a coincidence but it just happens that Evam’s ‘The Odd Couple’ was my first ever play and it was their play again that I am going to after a very long hiatus.
Play started little late than usual with a very unusual long somewhat boring adulating speech from an unusual person. Just when I thought enough was enough there was a startling revelation that it was 300th performance and well guess what we were also present for their 100th one. With lights out, and a while later came echoing beat of the legendary Pink Floyd’s ‘We Don’t Need No Education’ …

Woah…spell binding and the kind of opening I was just hoping for. My face flushed and had some goose bumps all over hearing that song. I controlled my irresistible desire to get up and dance. The whole point of the book was breaking the myth – all IIT ians are extremely talented bunch of guys, super whiz kids who just can’t do anything wrong in their studies or in their lives. And man that song just SUMS up the whole idea.

They had a very simple setting – one huge square platform with one step which took care of buildings, classrooms, dhaba, ice-cream parlour, insti roof (got the point?), one small desk and chair to the right (different rooms in the hostel…well a room that’s all), a bed with a cot to the right (same as the former) as you can see one such here.

It being an adaptation, I don’t want to go more into the story. If you are looking for one you can find it in my review of the book. The casting was excellently done including profs. Prof. Veera looks uber cool maybe because he was the only young prof out there. Of the whole lot I thought Ryan and Alok were like the perfect jigsaw pieces.

For some reason as the scenes were played out one after other I was co-relating more with the book anticipating the next scene with certain urgency. It was great to see some liberties that the author took and not adapting it literally. Especially the scene where they break up (a la Sid-Akash tussle minus the discussion of the how-why of such relationship) it was freaking hilarious to see Hari replying back with F*** off when Ryan flushed with pride to see Hari stay back ‘You made the right choice Hari’. And there were few more such hilarious scenes.

Well frankly I don’t have anything much to say. It is harder for reviewing something that you know could have been done better or for something you are much more familiar beforehand. I didn’t like it as much as the book and the unnecessary clapping between the scenes was irritating to say the least. I am happy at least I have made Ranjit enjoy the beauty of theater and he loved every part of it.