John D’Silva’s ‘Voddem’ has a smooth sailing
By: Daniel F. de Souza.
After the run away success of ‘Xiddkavni’ last season, playwright John D’Silva is strongly in the news once again with his latest release ‘Voddem’ which is doing fairly good this season. John’s prowess at story telling once again comes to the fore with this touching story which is surely going to touch your sensitivity and open your eyes wide to reality and myth. The story progresses smoothly and keeps you anticipating at the end of every scene, till the very last scene.
The story: In ‘Voddem’ John D’Silva has woven a tale that has an equal dose of romance, emotions, betrayal, and comedy. It all begins with a simple love affair between Sheldon (Joe) and Shaina (Aplon). Shaina is the only daughter of Judy (Carmen), who are seemingly rich and wealthy as compared to Sheldon who hails from a comparatively lesser background. But, when Shaina discloses her desire to her mother that she intends to tie the marital knot with Sheldon, her mother rebukes her for her wrong choice and puts a spanner into their love story. Things begin to sour from this point onwards and the plot thickens further to its climax. Shaina’s mother is not at all happy with the alliance, and that’s just because she suspects Sheldon of being mentally ill and has seen him frequenting the mental hospital quite very often. It takes Sheldon a great deal of effort to convince Shaina’s mother and Shaina too that he is not afflicted with any mental illness, and his actual reason for visiting the mental hospital is something else altogether.
But, Shaina’s mother an iron lady that she is refuses to accept any explanation and wants an end to this alliance. She convinces her daughter against the marriage and blackmails her on her wedding day that if she ever marries him she would consume poison and put an end to her life. Shaina is left with no choice although she is torn between two loves, her lover Sheldon on one side and her mother on the other. At the eleventh hour, Shaina listens to her mother though. Sheldon returns home disappointed and totally shattered and dejected from the church on the wedding day. He takes to drinks and ruins his life because Shaina has refused to marry him and ditched him on the wedding day. Shaina on the other hand is married to a rich young man Freddy (Peter de Pedda) whose father is an Engineer by profession. The match is arranged by Shaina’s mother herself and she is too proud about the same. But things don’t turn out as expected and Freddy turns to be a cheat, a gambler and wastes his life and wealth after gambling. He has neither love for his wife nor respect for his hi-fi mother-in-law. He takes possession of Shaina’s house and bosses over them both. What happens thereafter is best seen live on stage.
However, a few things that keeps the story moving interestingly are ; Why was Sheldon visiting the mental hospital regularly? Was he really mentally sick? if not, why did Shaina’s mother prevail upon her daughter not to marry Sheldon? What was she afraid of? What did Shaina’s mother gain finally in marrying her daughter off to a rich Engineers’ son? Was it just name and fame? Or was it her false belief in some myth that children of well to do professionals turn out to be good in society and those of lesser individuals do not make a name for themselves? Is her thinking right or is she blinded by her wealthy status living in a make believe world ? Watch ‘Voddem’ to learn all this and more about the irrational perceptions that our society today is plagued with.
John has written a contemporary tale with good insight into people’s physique. The script is good with several rich and savoury dialogues which is the hallmark of most of his plays. The playwright has taken a practical view of the practice prevailing in our society and the perception people have about certain things. Performance: Aplon shines in the role of the young lover and looks sweet sixteen and carries herself well with a good dress sense. Later as the tormented wife also, she gives a good performance. Carmen as the mother has a sober role in ‘Voddem’ and has given a good account of her self. She specially looks gorgeous with that flashy change of different sarees in every scene worn with the traditional Gujrati style. Joe is good and emotes well in tragic circumstances. So is Peter de Pedda in a dashing role of Freddy. It is Elvis though as Milton who steals the show in his brief role of a mentally sick patient. He is very natural and realistic.
John D’Silva as Adv. Romuldo ably supported by Comedian Michael, Dudush dot com, and Remedios keep the audience in a hilarious mood right through the play. But the major chunk of the comedy is shouldered by John D’Silva himself and is confined to mere conversation without much rhetoric’s and there’s no screaming and shouting, and yet it evokes healthy laughter. The comedy is decent and there are no obscene or vulgar remarks. Don’t miss the two comedy sequences, one of the conversation on the mobile phone by John and the other about the magic hat. Both these acts are executed with a natural flair for comedy.
There are limited number of songs comprising of solos, and one trio. With the presence of Aplon who is a talented singer, one duet could have easily been accommodated in the play which the playwright has sadly overlooked. The two solos by Xavier Gomes are good, so also one each by Elvis, Peter de Pedda and Joe. One comedy solo by comedian Michael was well received by the audience and encored. The trio by Elvis- Xavier Gomes-Michael also received a good response.
The musical score originally written by Maestro Manuel Noronha is played by Anthony de Velim, Philip de Sanvordem, John Sequeira, and Aniceto is soothing, though keyboard player Jose Carvalho_needs special mention who has provided some appropriate background music to enhance the overall beauty of the play. Agnel Braganza has designed the stage props and cut outs and the light effects to give the desired impact for the various scenes are handled smartly by A.P. Rojals with timely co-coordinaion. However, if the prop showing the Panjim church was a little bigger in size, the impact would have surely been mind blowing. Nevertheless it is very impressive, and proper light effects could go a long way in getting the desired visual effect.
