Article for TOI...

MAKADACHYA HATI CHAMPAGNE--
A rollercoaster Marathi two-act play powered with a captivating script and incredible performances.

The astounding Marathi two act play ‘Makadachya Hati Champagne’ written by Vivek Bele and effectively directed by Girish Joshi revolves around three men in a bachelor cushion. The characters bear non-conventional but identifiable roles like ‘Chaku’ played by Sandesh Jadhav, who is the uncouth, foul-mouthed and aggressive chap contrasted by the bookish, sophisticated and sissy ‘Pustak’ played by Akshay Pendse along with the most attention-grabbing character of ‘Makad’, who is a television reporter and would do anything on earth to get or even create news. The real story emerges with the ingress of ‘Pencil’, the unpredictable and esoteric woman, played by the ravishing Sharvani Pillai, in their lives. Struggling at this mooting competition to woo Pencil, Chaku and Pustak literally play the tug of war with Pustak finally emerging as the winner. But the play gets even more happening with Pencil’s bigamy, Chaku’s scheming plans of action to break Pustak’s marriage and Makad’s cunning but seemingly convincing and rational ideas on the 21st century marriage norms-which all blend in for that perfect, sizzling 180 minutes charismatic and spellbinding audio-visual ride!

Having won numerous accolades including the most prestigious Zee Gaurav Puraskar, 2007 for acting, script, play, music and direction as also the State Government Awards, 2007, the play is on its ultimate pinnacle. It has not only enthralled the audience in India but has also leaped to the U.S. and Dubai.

The story was basically conceived based on the political mileage rampant in the Indian political arena, coalition between parties and the filthy political relations. It has been symbolically imbibed in the central characters and that has been analogously drawn into a similar political maze in our personal and family lives. Speaking to Anand Ingale who has perfectly portrayed the character of ‘Makad’, he held, “We have already completed 402 performances of the play. We have envisaged it to hit a record of 525 performances by the 26th of January, 2008 and we would not look back at least till we touch the thousandth show”. According to Anand, the ultimate USP of the play is the perfect chemistry of its fundamental pieces like the script, direction, actors and their synergy and the appeal to the audience. It is indeed rare to find each of these requisites flawless and creatively astute.

“In Marathi, each performance is called a ‘Prayog’ which literally means an experiment. So however many performances we have, the audience is always new. That is what keeps us from the otherwise obvious feeling of monotony. Every play teaches us something new. It is the applause and response from the audience that we respire on to perform with the same enthusiasm every time. And it’s mind-blowing to experience how this mutual relationship between the actors and the audience adds to the flavour of the performance!” remarks Anand with content.

All in all, the play is truly another feather in the cap of the highly endowed and creative Marathi Theater! Shine on Marathi Rangabhumi!