Yesterday in Calangute,
people from the Agarvaddo, celebrated their annual Feast of Santa Cruz. In the evening, the Agarvaddekars under the
leadership of their dynamic leader and philanthropist Isidio Fernandes organized
a Tiatro “SOPON” written and directed by the well-known Tiatrist Pascoal de
Chikalim.
Seen above is the prominent member of Agarwaddo Isidio Fernandes
Mr. Isidio Fernandes is
a well known person in Calangute who seems to be bent on doing social work for
the cause of humanity. This Tiatro Sopon according to my information is organized by
him and also financed by him only and as such it was a free show. I heard from many of the attendees after the
show saying “BESAO PODDONK BABDDEACHER AMKAM FUNKOTT POLLOUNK DILO MHON KAI
BORO TIATRO”.
A group of members of Agarwaddo along with Jerry Cal
Though Isidio Fernandes
doing so much yet he is ably supported by his group of people who are ready to
assist him in anything at anytime and at anywhere. So also he too is ready to
assist his colleagues. He is the son of once a good footballer Victor Fernandes
playing for Calangute as defender who was good in both the legs and also in the
aerial duels. A very muscular man, Victor
was dependable defender who helped Calangute to win innumerable matches. I still remember how I played against him as a young boy in
so many encounters.
Seen in the picture above is Jerry Cal singing his solo
Attended by the
capacity crowd not only from Agarwaddo and Calangute only but even from the neighboring
villages since it was already known that this Tiatro is a good and worth
seeing. Though it started rather late at about 8.30 PM yet nobody got up from
his or her chair till the final scene ended because the secret of the entire
story is unfolded in the last scene only.
Earlier it looks everything is suspense but in the end the whole secret
is disclosed. What was the secret? It
was the secret of both the children and mother were kept at an undisclosed
location for Pascoal de Chikalim as a top cop to bring them back.
One of the scenes
The role played by the director
was excellent but due to his screaming so loudly he was not very audible. Even
some of the other artistes including the females were expressing themselves so
loudly with their raised voices that it looked like a war. This type of screaming
is not required, Directorsaib must see that some moderation is brought about. The
system of shouting used for Khel Tiatro is
not suitable for our Tiatro.
Seen above singing a trio song
The Side Show songs
were good and for this the singers deserve the compliments. However one thing must be noted that the Side
Show songs carry heavy weight on the Tiatro to accept as well performed. The
song rendered by the local singer Jerry Cal on the death of their Ghaum-Bhau
Peter Gomes the great yesteryear footballer of Goa who played for Calangute,
Salgaocar and Goa XI as goalkeeper and also a top Tiatrist of Young Stars of
Goa troupe. It was so well composed and
so well rendered without any flaw. It was well accepted by the audience.
Seen above singing a duet
Comedy part carried some vulgarity which is not palatable, at moments it
looked chaotic. Gone were the days, when
Jacinto Vaz by just standing without even uttering a word would create peals of
laughter among the audience. Those
yesteryear comedians never used vulgarity and double meaning words to make the
audience laugh. And what is the quality
of such audience who enjoy the cheap
comedy enacted thru using vulgar words?
I pity this class of audience who if they don’t change their liking for vulgarity
then this same vulgarity will kill our Tiatros.
Seen in the scene above is the director Pascoal de Chikalim
The cheap vulgar and double meaning comedy is performed by the many new comer
comedians because they are bankrupt to
think high and perform high. It also depends
on the upbringing of these comedians, their home discipline, the uprightness of
their parents to inculcate a sense of discipline in their children and many
other factors. But the min person responsible
to control this vulgarity is the Director himself.
Recently, I have been noticing some of the top directors are become
addicted to the vulgar comedy and if their fault is highlighted they become
furious as if they are omnipotent. They
must know that Konkani Stage is not their fathers’ property to use it the way
they want. If they feel they carry the
liberty to use it the way they want then persons like me will be entitled to use
our Pens to oppose it. You take your
freedom but don’t stop me from using my freedom to oppose you. Some of the so called Tiatrists used the
freedom of Stage not only to showcase their talent but also to disgrace
it. For this reason, the Pai Tiatrist
once called these third grade Tiatrists as ROSTAD.
A. Veronica Fernandes.
