Kissago’s Bungalow#144 could do with some functional repairs

Plot: The story unfolds in a hill top guest house run by Prem and his wife Neena, who inherits the property from her late grandmother. It is the opening day of the of ancestral home-turned-lodge and the first guests arrive. The couple’s happiness is dented by a blizzard which leaves them snowed in along with the four lodgers. Reports of a serial killer on the loose on radio news creates some panic among the inhabitants who come to realise that no one is what they seem to be. Things take a vicious turn when one of the guests gets murdered. Who is the killer?

Review: Everything good that happens in the universe starts with an intention, goes the adage. And director Subhash Gupta sure had his heart in the right place when he chose Bungalow #144 — Surender Gulati’s 1960s’ adaptation of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece to give Hyderabadis a taste of classic a crime play. But, did the play manage to offer a spine-chilling experience of the timeless whodunit? Perhaps, only in parts.
For starters, just before the start of the play, rain played spoil sport for the organisers who’d planned it to be an open air performance. The crew were forced to stage the play in a small auditorium instead. The crew faced a daunting task of rearranging the entire set, lights and sound; this time for an indoor set up. Yet, they took the challenge head on and came out victorious in the nick of time.

Featuring some seasoned names from the city’s theatre circuit, the casting was spot on except for Shailaja Chaturvedi and Dwij Vasawada, who played Neena and Prem respectively. While Shailaja fumbled numerous times with her dialogues, her repetitive expressions added unsought mystery to the already twisted plot. Dwij on the other hand, with his restless energy diluted the flow of the play. But there were others who helped the play move on.

Rita Ghosh

as the ever-critical Lina Das, Yaseen Sarwat as silver-tongued Ali Baig and Jay Jha as the stern inspector, were refreshing to watch. Their timing and exchanges were as fluid as passes of a seasoned football team playing at home. However, Abhijeet Despande’s performance as a fidgety young Ravi Verma failed to impress. We weren’t sure if it was the director’s diktat but he couldn’t add anything novel to the character.Crime play and detective fiction are two entirely different entities (narrative-wise) and this is where Christie’s plot dazzles, being both. In this regard, Jha’s instinctive narrative mediation about the crime that happened and the one that’s looming, was appreciable. The highlight of the play was how Subhash effectively chose to portray a murder masquerading it under the shadow of a flickering floor lamp and a raucous radio.

Verdict: Replete with a lot of twists and turns, the plot is an engaging fusion of comedy of manners and murder mystery. The rain gods were harsh but kudos to the crew for making Bungalow#144 an engaging watch and to reintroduce the experience of classic crime plays for the contemporary audience. If a few holes are fixed, it would indeed be worth a watch; just keep a check on the weather!