Paying tribute to legends

Everytime we are reminded of the film Padosan it brings a huge smile to our faces. The image of an unworldly wise Bhola (remember Sunil Dutt); a bubbly, beautiful and very pouty Saira Bano as Bindu; her exemplary music teacher Master Pillai played to perfection by Mehmood and Bhola’s friend and guide - the inimitable Kishore Kumar as Guru are simply unforgettable in this 1968 classic.

And nobody has had the heart to touch this 157-minute long comedy in all these years. But now, the impossible has been attempted through a 100 minute theatrical performance by Five Elements Art and Culture Society.

Rakhi Chauhan Mehta and Manuv Mehta who have earlier showcased the play at Sri Ram Centre, were back again with the same crew to perform at PSK Auditorium.
The original was based on Arun Chowdhury’s Bengali novel Pasher Bari and later adapted for screen by Mehmood (the actor) and NC Sippy. Directed by Jyoti Swaroop, the film’s dialogues were written by Rajinder Kishan. Now after years, the audiences relived some of those dialogues when actors brought the story alive on stage.

 Bhola (played by Manuv) realises that he is of marriageable age and comes to stay along with her aunt, who is separated from her husband. He falls in love with the girl next door, who is a charming college student Bindu (played by Vidhi). Bhola is so in love with her that he decides to woo her but he finds that Bindu is taking lessons from a Tamil music teacher Masterji (played by Richard). When Bhola notices that Bindu is more interested in music than him, he seeks the help of his friend Vidyapati (played by Sachin) who runs a local drama company.

As Guru discovers that Bhola can’t sing to save his life, he comes up with an idea to playback for Bhola, just so that he can impress Bindu. Bindu charmed by Bhola's singing, falls in love only to discover that he is fooling her and invites Masterji back in her life. How the plot resolves is anyone’s guess.

The play retained the original soundtrack of the movie, including moments from the unforgettable R D Burman’s unsurpassed Ek chatur naar...  and Mere samne wali khidki mein.
 Sticking to the original story, the directors kept their focus on the sequencing of events. All the actors  tried to keep alive performance as in the movie. The audience too remained appreciative of the effort put into the play which was meant as a tribute to the legends of Hindi cinema.

“The play is simply a tribute to the legendary actors who are no more. We have stuck to the original story and used the original dialogues.  It was great to see people
enjoying every moment of the play,” commented Rakhi after the play.