Drama Rehearsals

Karun Sharma (r) brought us sweets from a visit to Benares

Preparations for the club’s Annual Day function in February have gathered momentum. With just about a month between then and now, the focus at present is on the drama rehearsals, under the active supervision of Siba Prasad Maitra and Bijoy Gupta.
Two one-act plays have been scheduled for the occasion – Feku Baba and Dilip Kumar. Both are slapstick comedies, authored and directed by Gupta. He shall also be performing in them together with Yusuf Rassiwala, Shekhawat, Nahid Khan, Bhaswati Bose and other actors of the club.
Kiran Prakash and Karun Sharma, who also hold key roles in the plays, returned to the Garden this morning and straightaway joined the rehearsals after the exercises. The former was away exploring the higher reaches of the North East while the latter visited his alma mater, Benares Hindu University and picked up a box of an exotic Benaresi sweet – a variation of the Bengali labanna latika – for us on his return. It was a thoughtful gesture.
As for the rehearsals, we are still at the stage of script reading and memorizing the lines. Soon the drill of dialogue delivery would begin, followed by exercises of synchronizing voice with action and finally, inter-personal coordination of cast members for the stage.
Clearly, a lot of ground needs to be covered. But going by past experience and the enthusiasm of our actors, they are not just super-confident, but FEARLESS in their innocence about facing any audience any time. Their self-belief is palpable.

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
All of us are waiting eagerly for the Annual Function. The members are emboldened by their earlier experience. The outcome will surely be enjoyable and the audience will be crying, 'Yeh dil mange more!'