Five Point Someones !

Five Point Someone – brings a smile to your face :-) … doesn’t it ? And what about the play ‘Five Point Someone’? Seen it, right? If your answer is no, then I guess you must not be a theatre-goer!

Anyways, I know that there have been enough reviews, comments, posts, articles, etc about the play by Nikhila Kesavam, but still I cannot rest in peace without giving my take on it. Maybe because after all, its about one of the most talked about and most adored books of our times.
It was such a difficult job to suppress my curiosity about how Madras Talkies would present the ‘iconic’ characters and the whole ‘feel’ of the book. While reading the book each one of us must have imagined the Kumaon hostel, the IIT campus, the Insti building rooftop and the characters - to be of a certain nature. I was wondering as to how the director, cast and crew will live up to the hundreds of ‘imaginations’ that the legions of the book’s lovers had weaved in their hearts and minds !!!
Even though it was one of my favourite production houses, Evam, that was producing the play, yet the fact that I had not seen much of Madras Talkies’ works, was the cause of my apprehensions. ( We all know that when we go for an Evam event, we will end up exercising our funny bone. Note to self:- I must make it a point to attend Madras Talkies’ show at the earliest opportunity, since they are the oldest Indian English theatre group)

The Play ( Staged on April 12th, 19:00 hrs, Rangashankara, J P Nagar)

My apprehensions were unfounded! They put up a lively performance. As suspected by yours truly, the play started with “Another brick in the wall” floating across Rangashankara’s magnificent ‘sanctum sanctorum’ and that laid to rest my nervousness since it assured me that the book’s/story’s soul had not been tampered with !
The dialogues were crisp, the pace good and the direction was decent as well. The play was very honest in its adaptation and the director managed to plug all the usual loopholes that creep in when a book is adapted for the stage. The ‘grown-up Hari’ narrating & floating in and out of the present, was really note-worthy especially since he had the audience guffawing most of the times !

BUT…..

I have this sneaky feeling that the play failed to be a ‘classic’. Although it did manage to be a very good value for our money and although it did bring out a very very very nice comfy feel getting out of the hall, yet I feel it missed ‘greatness’ by some way. The plot and the unique characters had the potential to create a humdinger of a play which never was in this case. I think the acting was a reason for this since except for ‘Alok’ ( I refrain from using the actors’ real names) the others were just ordinary in their facial expressions and body movements. Their dialogue delivery is what kept the pace lively since all the characters rendered their dialogues with great gusto and precision.

The Real Actor

Alok’s was undoubtedly the best portrayed character and it was such a new thing for me since the actor managed to endear himself to me and the whole audience to his character. I must admit that it managed to create a fondness in me for him which was not there earlier after reading the book. The actor gave a different dimension to the character by his conspicuous ‘chest heaving’, the fuming and fretting and the spontaneous dialogue delivery. So ‘enthusiastic’ was his dialogue delivery that I, sitting in the first row, had to run for cover everytime he came close to me fearing that his saliva would fall on to me. (chuckle!)

Competent others

The others, Hari and Ryan, were competent but not spectacular. The manner in which the Hari agrees to what Ryan says, even though a few seconds back he was dead against the plan, is not convincing. Ryan on his part doesn’t come off as the ‘cool dude’ as much, but manages to portray his angst and mysterious personality well. It his monotonous and repetitive use of his hands that gave a weariness to the character. But it was his dialogue delivery that was amazingly clear and powerful. His conversations with Alok were splendidly portrayed with a thread of tension and strain running right through Ryan’s body – which betrayed his emotions. And of course the narrator Hari, although in the beginning gives an impression of a poor attempt at innovation, ultimately justifies his element and presence in the play, by dishing out some of the best dialogues and witticism laced with sarcasm ! The professors were of course very well depicted.

The Angelic Tormentor

Now coming to the most important reason that I wrote this post. The character of Neha !
Neha, aaaaaahhhhhhhhh… Neha !!! (sigh ! )

‘The Book Neha’ - She was the magic that kept surprising the readers in the book by Chetan Bhagat. According to me, the ‘book Neha’ was the most complex character of the whole set. She is the reason I love the book so much ! No female character had captured my imagination as much as Neha had done. Her flirtatious nature which she mixed with her revulsion towards ‘other boys of IIT’, he brushes with her father, her talks about ideology, her craving for her brother, her unmindfulness at the stupidity & timidity of Hari’s nature and her unforgettable ‘intimate session’ with Hari in her home when her parents were gone, her loyalty towards Hari even though they were both working in different cities, her way of supporting her family and yet confiding in Hari, her ‘laying off’ and then getting back together with Hari after he cheated her and dragged her into the controversy, her independence and yet dependence on Hari for emotional support although he was not at all emotionally stable himself – all added to the aura around her character. I am sure every one must have had a picture of Neha in their minds. I have created a character of Neha in my mind that has far greater qualities than even Chetan Bhagat sketched in her and this Neha has always tormented me with her guile and passion.

‘The play Neha’ – She disappointed ! :-(
Although she came very close to the appearance of Neha that I had in my imagination, yet her portrayal lacked the depth that the character demanded from the actress. The girl was heavenly beautiful with a very expressive face, yet many a times the expressions were very juvenile in nature. Her exclamations and dialogue delivery lacked the assurance and conviction. It was evident that she was delivering dialogues and not talking naturally. Her sense of timing was also not very good, which was reflected in the luke-warm chemistry between her and Hari. Even the love scenes where Hari holds her and kisses her, and then the way in which she drags him inside – was bereft of the sense of intellect that always accompanies my understanding of the character. Her eyes were not showing the upheaval inside of her. Maybe I will blame the author Chetan Bhagat for having not explored her character even further since she trusted Hari whereas nothing in the whole of the book justifies a supposedly intelligent person like trusting her with her deepest secrets. And hence the actor was caught between portraying an intensely passionate , intelligent girl and a typical teenager who is bubbly and enthusiastic of all that’s happening around her.

In short the ‘stage Neha’ failed to bring out the ‘lovely & mystical Neha’ of the book that I had come to love and long for ! Although beauty-wise, I would rate the ‘stage neha’ to be beyond anybody’s most beautiful imagination since she radiated beauty and love in her every step, every dialogue.

Overall Nikhila Kesavan did a wonderful job of presenting to us a wonderful play that was honest and well thought out. It was fully worth it to come across far and wide to see it. It is a must-watch for everyone especially since it’s a joy to see the characters come alive on stage and its entertainment guaranteed. The most important thing that the play lacked was what we all call in hindi as “thehraav” (stillness). There were some scenes in which a pause here and a lingering there would have created a magical effect on the audience – but sadly that ‘thehraav’ was missing.

Yet I would recommend this play to everyone ! and I mean everyone ! People who have never been to plays, people who do not go to plays much often are the best people to enjoy this play. Even the audience that I saw was not the usual theatre –going bunch of Bangalore, but a huge crowd of ‘Five Point some’ book’s fans and friends etc. For a regular it would have been a novel experience - the constant ‘multiplex like’ murmuring, cheering, clapping etc. which reflected a ‘non-theatre going’ audience since they lacked the basic civilities of a ‘theatre audience’. But who the heck cares when it’s a fun show that is shown since its ultimately about touching your hearts with the plays and making the audience feel nice about the play. And that’s what Madras Talkies along with Evam did. They put up a cheerful, energetic and enthusiastic show that managed to win the hearts of all those who were present and plenty more outside.

My advice to all of you is to catch the play as soon as possible to relive your wonderful moments when you read the book. I am not sure but I think, Evam usually travels to Bangalore ( never missed any of their shows here) and Hyderabad (had read about them performing there when I had been to the city) for their shows apart from their home base in Chennai. But yes, nothing can match the magical ambience of Rangashankara… no, not even Museum theatre, Chennai !

So that’s it from my side. By the way Basheer’s short stories are being adapted to a play called Sangathi Arinya by Paul Mathews and is running in rangashankara. So in case you want to catch some poignant takes on the lives of men and women and their relationships in rural backdrops of Kerala, then go ahead ! Its well worth it. My mom loves Basheer ! Already bought her some 10 books and she manages to finish each in a day. I wish Basheer had written something that went beyond 100 pages. Would save me from the trouble of going to M. G Road ( Bookworm or DC) and scourge for his books to be sent back to Baroda to that voracious reader i.e. my mother ! :-)

He ! He ! He ! :-)I enjoyed writing this post… it is so much fun, criticizing and commenting about others’ creations…. Real test would be when I can manage even half of what all these wonderful artists create. What a wonderful world we live and how amazingly wonderfully different and yet equally enchanting worlds these artists create ! Amazing !
:-)