On Sunnday, 16-6-19, I
saw the new Tiatro “C.M.” written and directed by the well - known Tiatrist
Mariano Fernanndes. It was very well attended by the audience starting at 3.45
pm at Hanuman Theatre, Mapusa where due to the hall being a non-A/c, it was
horrible at least in the beginning to cope up with the heat. Not only that it
was a non A/c hall but even some of the chairs were found broken and defective
requring repairs if not replacement. What is the use of increasing the Ticket
charges suddenly astronomically by Rs 50/- from 150/-to 200/-per seat when amenities
are not provided properly.
Moreover, the
arrangement for the Stage setting was not done properly because of it one front
Curtain fell down needing time to fix it back, while this Curtain was in the
process of making it ok, Mike system indicated its mostly irresponsible
arrangement on the part of the Management of this Tiatro. I remember in 1958 when C.Alvares came to Goa
to stage his best Tiatro “Axea”, my father and his one local friend got the contract to show this Tiatro
in our village Candolim starting at 10.30 PM.
But C.Alvares was C. Alvares, he was not from the ranks of Ladru &
Pedru but a genius in Tiatro and composing
excellent Duets. He was moreover a responsible man as he was an excellent
Organiser and to prove this capacity he came at 5.00 PM to the place where
“Mattou” arrangement was in progress to stage his Tiatro in another 5.5 hours
and from close angle he watched everything was arranged properly and in
time. He told my father who when
questioned him politely why he had to come especially only to check the Mattou
arrangement when everything is taken care of, replied Alvares, sorry to speak
like this but I could not get a nap after my lunch because my whole attention
was rolling on Mattou arrangement, of course because I am a responsible
director, my audience have confidence in me and this trust to build in me and
my audience it took me years besides strong sacrifices. I cannot take my audience for granted and
above all as the director I have my own reponsibilty.
At the start of the
Tiatro people started shouting vociferously thereby inflicting fear into the
minds and hearts of the attendees thus putting into the minds of the director
and the owners of the Hall that “beware, it is too long that this hall is not equipped with sound Mike system. Gone were the days when Mapusa had the
huge and spacious Mattou of Narvenkar opposite
to the Police Station that catered to the needs not only of Mapusa City and its
ambient areas but also many of the
villages around Mapusa. It is a pity that the elected representatives from Mapusa
are doing nothing much for the betterment of Mapusa. See, have a round in Mapusa Bazar, everything
is filty because elected representatives of Mapusa are filty, they have no interest
in doing anything good for Mapusa, it looks they are elected not to serve
Mapusa and its citizens but to serve themselves only.
As announced in the local newspaper the Bollywood actors Dhruv and Rajiv and
TV actress Harsha as well as Bollywood singer who performed so well in this Tiatro were not even introduced to the
audience. The actress Harsha with her
two singing items in Konkani mesmerized the audience not only thru her vocals
but also thru her attractive appearance and beutiful looks while both the
Bollywood artistes played their
respective roles in the play extremely well, one played the role of the CM and
the other that of the local politician.
By observing their acting minutely, I found their every move even walk
and talk had the mathematical precision.
They brought an extra flavour and grandeur to the Konkani Stage. They
were ably supported in their performance by yet another Hindu female artiste Shalini
who does the role of the mother of CM who takes the whole Tiatro to the
crescendo in the last scene which captures the total attention of the
audience. While taking the story to its
zenith, he scolds the current rulers of Goa for doing nothing for the cause of
the public when it is so easy to do. In
fact the Konkani Tiatro Stage is brought to the pedestal level by the Hindu
artistes also from the time the most renowned among the Hindu artistes, Kamat
de Assolna stepped on to the Konkani
Stage somewhere in 1956. Both the
Bollywood artistes as indicated above are also Hindus just as we have so many
in Goa who kept the Konkani Stage well decorated.
Mariano in the past was
known to bring about some innovations on the Stage but this time not much new
nor anything extra ordinary. However, I
cannot remain indicating my admiration for the depiction of the Goa Legislative
Assembly where it looked like live session was going on with the display of Benches
and Tables as they are there in the
Assembly. Full credit to Mariano
Fernandes for this innovation of which type I never seen before shown by any of
the best or mediocre directors. The
scene of the Railway carrying Coal looked very genuine and inducting in this
Tiatro the best of yesteryears artiste Bai
Platilda who is still in high demand from the audience, stole the show by her same old looks, voice, appropriate
dress code and smart acting. She was not
only the Comedy Queen of Konkani Stage but was the genius comedian because she
gained a lot of confidence and
experience by playing her comedy roles with the then topmost comedians namely
Jascinto Vaz, Luis Rod, Wincy of Young Stars of Goa, M. Boyer, Greg de Candolim
and many more. We are very fortunate to
have her still with us and attaining the status of “Garamae” she still
acts like a teenager. May God give her more years to serve the Konkani Stage.
The other comedian who
is enjoying the lokhpriya status on Konkani Stage is Bai Anita whose daring and
robust comedy turns the table upside down.
She played her comedy role very well thereby raising the standard of the
play high.
And the third comedian that inducted into his
play by director Mariano Fernandes was Prince of Konkani Stage – Prince
Jacob. In fact Jacob was extremely on
high spirit performing very well, even in his own dramas you rarely find him in
this atmosphere. He shouldered the
responsibility of the comedy with zeal, dedication and push
Among the singers who rendered their songs well were attractive Maggy,
handsome Elvis, Domnick-Platilda-Prince Jacob – Michael (a quarter) and
others.
A.Veronica Fernandes.
