Om Puri at a theater competition

Friday night was a date night with drama for youngsters and theater enthusiasts, who headed to Ayna — a theater competition. The competition saw four plays staged by local groups — Dramanon, Rangadhara, D-Fir Dramatics and Udaan Performing Arts — being judged by actor Om Puri, theater personality Ranjit Kapoor and writer Prayag Shukla.
“Rangdhara’s “Waking up” that was first up, revolved around a woman’s desperate struggle in a fast paced world.“No Play” staged by Dramanon, starring Tavish Bhattacharya and Ratika Sant Keswani, set the mood for the evening by taking the competition to another level. What started out with a series of mono-syllabic no’s from the couple, ends on a positive note of ‘maybe’. Their simple yet brilliant performance was loved by the audience, who was seen breaking into laughter right from the word go.
The production of D-Fir Dramatics, “A Piece of Me” showcased three monologues by women from different walks of life — all speaking of their journey of life through hardships and their struggle to survive. Despite the bad sound, the play managed to connect with the audience through the powerful dialogue deliveries by Kajal Shah, Ria and Subikksha Balaje.
“Miya Biwi” by Udaan evoked most laughter from the audience. The love-hate relationship between a pucca Hyderabadi couple, reminiscing their happy days together made for a fun watch. Pushkarni Varma and Saurabh Gharipurikar deserve a special mention for their brilliant performances.
Dramano’s “No Play” was declared the Best Play of the evening and also received the Best Performance awards while Udaan was given a special award as the second best performers during the evening. At the end of the show, judges Ranjit Kapoor and Om Puri avered — “We were told the plays will be staged by amateur theater groups. We are surprised by how professional they are.”