Venue: Kamani Auditorium
Date: September, 2016

Chakkar Chalaye Ghanchakkar – a Hindi play, was Aadyam’s last presentation from their second season. Like their earlier plays Ladies Sangeet  and 12 Angry Jurors  this one was also a star studded presentation. The play had Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub (Ranjhana / Tanu weds Manu Returns fame) and Swanand Kirkire in double roles along with Shruti Seth (TV actor from Sharaarat). The play is based on Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. The theme has been adapted earlier in Gulzar’s Hindi film Angoor in the 80s.

The story revolves around two sets of identical twins who swap places with each other on and off by accident and create confusion that leads to hilarious situations. Gulzar’s story is dated – somewhat stale – we wonder why Aadyam chose to present a full fledged theatre production out of it. Although we liked the simplicity, it’s tough for current generation to understand a situation where you have to send the servant or sister to the market to check on your husband… to see why is he not back. Like really – No mobile phones…? Also situations with Bhaang (and for that matter even Julaab) were best in eighties and have lost their shelf life. These are done to death in Hindi films of last decade. The story belonged to old times but the overall look of the play was not vintage. The performances from the actors were alright. This light play hardly had any scope to display any heavy duty acting skills.

We liked the rickshaw on the stage – almost like a memorable guest appearance.

The play couldn’t make Delhi theatre audience laugh, who are generally tickled easily. But on second thoughts it did manage to make us smile throughout the 90 minutes duration. Given the challenging times we live in, even this is worth the time and money.