An old story with a fresh twist:Manoj[Old

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Shruti

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Posted: 19 years ago

An old story with a fresh twist

The Moksh Creations production presented a modern tale of love.

Ashish July 2005

IT was all about an effort to get the groove back. For the actor because she was making a comeback of sorts. For the character because she began rediscovering herself. And getting back the groove is often tentative. The English play Please Divorce Me Darling!, based on '69 flick Cactus Flower, which was staged at Tagore Theatre on Saturday evening, testified that. Produced and directed by Vandana Sajnani of Moksh Creations, the romantic comedy brought Rati Agnihotri on stage for the first time. She plays a nurse, Sonia Singh, in the clinic of an idiosyncratic dentist Amit Kapoor, played by Rajesh Khattar, the rectitude of nurse always balancing out the recklessness of her boss. She works beyond the call of duty, informing the dentist, ''It's time for a haircut!'' ''You need to see you tailor!'' ''It's lunch time and I've got Paneer Tikka for you!'' In short, the dentist, a bachelor, has a quasi-mother taking care of most things in his life. Now he is free to go around in a carefree manner with other women telling lies for his own convenience. The barrage of lies to cover up other lies in the end reveal the truth. It's his nurse that he loves and needs more than anyone else. They indeed are Ek Duje Ke Liye.

We wouldn't know, however, whether they lived happily ever after or not. That's where the character's tentativeness lies. But as far as actors are concerned Rati was far from getting hers back. She looked strained and stiff in her mannerisms. Her laugh lines didn't sound funny enough. The actor who actually carried the play, was Rajesh Khattar. His impeccable timing, inventive gestures and intense proclivity infused a dynamite like quality in the script which at times threatened to collapse, and nearly did in the end. Manoj Bohra as a young wannabe writer, with a prolonged writer's block, proved his a knack for comedy. Naved Aslam doubling as a Tamilian and a Punjabi made even trite lines pleasurable.

The play did sink into platitudes. Laugh lines seemed forced at times. These are the problems of adapting foreign scripts for Indian audiences. The real funny thing about the play, though, was an error of fact. In a dental clinic you never have nurses.

Edited by Manoj_Tina fan - 19 years ago