‘BARFF’ – BURNS MORE THAN FIRE
“People
love scandal; people love drama. They love stripping away the layers to see
what's really in there, and they'll do anything - as well as make it up - to
get it.”
-- Julia Roberts
When Saurabh Shukla, Sunil Kumar Palwal
and Sadiya Siddiqui, performed in Mulla Auditorium on the evening 07th
Jul, their veil seemed non-existent as they transported us to our northern
Paradise (Kashmir) about which Firdaus had once quipped regarding it being the Heaven on Earth, “Gar firdaus bar-rue
zamin ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast.” …The
‘BARFF’ Drama seemed Real and flawless. The draw of curtains presented us with
an authentic and tantalising set of snowfall in Kashmir. The esoteric set of a wooden house with a loft bathed in pronounced blue lighting enhanced the intrigue. In that dimly lit snowy night,
the torchlight appears to lead the way as two silhouettes trudge up. A
Kashmiri taxi driver, Ghulam Rasool, is guiding a senior doctor to his house,
ensconced in a far-flung Kashmiri village, to have his ailing son treated. The
road leading up to his house is not motorable in that harsh weather, so the
trek is inevitable.
The engrossing narrative is replete
with uncanny humour and witty remarks of
the social-political scenario in J&K. The audience in Mulla was in a spell,
caught between reality, faith, belief
for over two hours punctuated with a short interval after an hour. When the curtains fell the spectators
were in a state of amazing disbelief and pure delight. The audience exulted in a standing ovation to applaud the wonderful cast of this Grand show as we admired in awe the magical spell cast
by the Actor-Writer-Director Saurabh Shukla, Sunil Palwal and Sadiya. The three, whom I later
interacted are empathy driven down to Earth humans.
The seeds for this Mega event were sown
when Cdr Vijay Vadhera,
Secy NFMC chanced to meet up with Mr
Ashvin Gidwani, who has made an enviable position for himself by constructing a multinational media company
‘AGP World’ in 1995. AGP World is
a premier production company of high-quality theatre, arts & signature
experiences with a presence in 12 countries and 17 cities globally. By
his able Leadership, Mr Ashvin has ensured an unstinted growth for his company
that organises stage shows involving Bollywood stars who are enigmatic
champions in the field of Theatre. Mr Ashwin is a talented Fauji Kid with Naval
roots. A dutiful Son of Late Surg Cdr D Gidwani, ex-PMO Vikrant and Mrs Kamla
Gidwani, he had kindly offered to stage his Hindi Play “BARFF” in their honour
in Mulla Auditorium at 1800 hrs on Sun 07 Jul 2019.
As Meena and I entered the Auditorium and met Cdr Vijay Vadhera, the
architect of this show, Cmde Ravi came and embraced me. Meena spontaneously
clicked our photo with Lyn Ma’am and got busy snapping the Veteran spectators in the
hall. Incidentally, Cmde Ravi had directed the Mulla Auditorium’s Inaugural Play long ago.
VAdm Ajit Kumar P, FOC-in-C (West) was invited
to be the Chief Guest, but due to Admiral's pre-occupation, VAdm RB Pandit, Chief of Staff WNC graced the occasion and felicitated the Cast and
crew on stage after the show. The jubilant
spectators in the Housefull Auditorium were a rich amalgamation of the young serving
officers and the youthful Veterans of our fine Indian Navy.
It was indeed a pleasure for the
Headquarters staff & Senior Veterans to have interacted with Mr Ashvin
Gidwani and his cast and crew at the Command Mess lounge over drinks and
assorted snacks. The Actor-Writer-Director of ‘Barff’ Mr Saurabh Shukla mentioned that he wrote
the engrossing script about 10 yrs ago and the play has run over 100 shows all
over India. The Officers and ladies interacted with the cast as the Official
photographer Mrs Meena Dutta continued to click snaps (displayed below) Thereafter
Cdr Vadhera hosted the Cast team for Dinner at the US Club. Meena and I
had ample opportunity to interact with our Naval friends and befriend Sunil Paliwal and Anchal Chauhan
(AGP Actress) who are the lead cast of ‘Devdas’. Anchal is a Fauji Brat
herself, whose Dad Col Chauhan retired recently.
A stupendous evening had been blessed to the
Naval Fraternity due to a chance rendezvous of Secy NFMC and Mr Ashvin Gidwani
of AGP World last year….Shano Varuna, Jai Hind.
To view the Preview Blog click link below:
About the Author
Commander
Rajinder Dutta (Retd) has been a Naval Pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor
with about 3000 hrs of flying on various fixed wing Aircraft of Indian Navy,
viz HT-2, HPT-32, Kirans, Islander, Super Connie, Fokker F-27 and IL-38.
He is a Committee
Member of NFMC, a Master of Ceremonies and an avid blogger.
It was great show.
ReplyDeleteVery well captured Sir. It was a wonderful show
ReplyDeleteThanks Sir.🙏
Delete