Ekmekat (Intertwined) Silent bleeding.

Manaswini Lata Ravindra comes back after some time with a new play and this time as a director too! And yes, she makes her mark! It's good to see her back in action.

Her play is about a young girl whose realtionship is cutoff by her boy friend, bleeds silently and tries to straighten the intertwined soaked threads, but her boy friend makes it difficult for her.

Now visualize the break off scene like a flower vase falling to the ground. It hits the ground and breaks in to minute pieces but there is no sound. It all happens in absolute silence and then the space is cleared off by removing the pieces. As we travel through the play we step on small glass bits which have remained in dark corners by mistake. They prick and pierce drawing blood which flows in slow motion. Manaswini’s play has that quality.

She is aptly supported by quality performances of her actor’s- Ketaki Saraf, Padmanabh Bind and Mitali Joshi. She uses the space effectively and creates nuances which are a delight to watch. The choice of colours and the subtleties clearly show the female hand involved.

Manaswini has already proved her writing skills. Here she asserts them and we can see brevity of dialogue at work. Precise words which explode at the right moment. But in this play they create black holes without noise.

So Lalit, Mumbai (Pass outs from Lalit Kala Academy, Pune) has got a new Director!

In a play review in Loksatta (Marathi Daily newspaper) Ravindra Pathare had mentioned that today’s younger generation is expressing themselves fearlessly. They have no hang ups and do not want any endorsement from anyone. The expression is forceful and genuine.

I agree with him. There is a lot to gain from watching these plays. Do watch them and get enriched.

This review is Written by :- Sandesh Kulkarni.