Play Review: Ke?

Play: Ke??
Director: Bratya Basu
Duration: 120 Minutes
Cast: Ritwick, Gautam, Poulami, Krishnendu
Rating: ****
A fuzzy, furry feline puppet with flashing eyes yo-yoes in one corner, as Honey Singh would to his own rap. In that twilight hour, Sunil Sen jerks out of his slumber as a stranger walks into his house. The reason for this untimely visit is rather baffling.Srikanto, the visitor, wants Sunil to own up to his involvement in abetting the suicide of Lily, Srikanto's wife, who was also pregnant. So, is Sunil the predator or the prey?
K?, a play written and directed by Bratya Basu, transcends the physical space which Sunil, once a medical practitioner, inhabits to enter the deepest recesses of his psyche and brings out a tale that is both engaging and intimidating. Engaging, because it is not just an edge-of-the-seat thriller, but can also be effortlessly translated into any other medium — big or small.
Now, the intimidating bit.
Sunil, by his own admission, is a non-conformist. He loves to sleep, he confesses. Cocooned in his own space, he has no time for the rest; the world be damned! So what if he would shut himself up in his chamber that his rich, estranged wife Kurchi (Poulomi Basu) once gifted him, only to sleep? So what if Kurchi is now in a happy space with her partner, Manoj (Samrat Ghatak)? So what if she is still not ready to file for divorce? So what if his foul-mouthed cop friend Robi blames him for the debacle of a marriage?
Ritwick Chakraborty — the poster boy of new-age cinema — is a class apart as Sunil. His trajectory of dysphoric yet nonchalant behaviour both shocks and awes. He is riveting even in the most sluggish state he comfortably slips into. And here, Ritwick is in able company. Krishnendu Dewanji as Srikanto is equally intriguing, or shall we say repulsive?
As the plot thickens, Sunil and company makes it to the den of Chatak Chattoraj (Gautam Mukherjee) -the cricket-loving private eye -who follows the game more than clues that hold key to investigation. In Uma Thurman's Kill Bill gear, he provides comic relief; the sparkle in his ageing eyes is reminiscent of a time when life was different, when Test cricket would rule, when the world was still a better place to live in. Chattoraj takes up the chal lenge, rather Sunil surrenders himself to the sleuth, but does that solve the riddle? We shall say no more. Bratya mixes cricket, life, seen and the unseen only to solve the rubik's cube that he himself jumbles up at the very beginning. The effect is elevating. It's captivating the way he brings out the vulnerability of a man, who renounces the world out of self-belief and creates a territory , which is essentially his own -the orbit that he demands he should revolve around, without a care.
Apart from the actors in this Bratyajon production who do their job rather well, the director uses Kill Bill's music (Quentin Tarantino does find mention on the credit lines in the brochure) and the play of light and shadow to intensify the shock value.
The state of illumination or darkness that engulfs the stage from time to time highlights the psychological continuum of the characters. Scratch the surface and a lot comes pouring out — call it lava or the venom that Sunil spews out for the world outside. Despite some melodrama that Chattoraj indulges in, the play offers performances that are out of the ordinary , a commentary which goes beyond the cricket field to encompass society in general and a tale that's sure to linger on even when the curtains are down.
How we love the cat, the catch and the conundrum thrown in between!