Thumbs up evam!

As a part of the celebrations of their sixth year in theatre, Five Point Someone from this theatrical factory tours the country, beginning in our city. We review the play for you and tell you why you need to catch at least one performance.

As a part of the celebrations of their sixth year in theatre, Five Point Someone from this theatrical factory tours the country, beginning in our city. We review the play for you and tell you why you need to catch at least one performance.

We've seen the film, we've read the book and the only thing that seemed lacking was a play being scripted and now that's happened too! Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone could well go down in Indian history as the only book to be converted into a play and looped into the script of a blockbuster movie in less than six years since its publishing.

Who's responsible for this popularity? Well, going by the book, I'm assuming it's the thousands of IIT and IIM prospective applicants, past applicants and pass-outs that India proudly produces year after year.



For the rest of us, the book is merely a good read and as one friend more aptly summarized "it is a book that one should read on an overnight journey to anywhere, literally anywhere". What makes it special you ask? Well, it ends just when it has to and that can sometime be the biggest USP of a book.

Evam, celebrating six years, decided to convert this bestseller into a script, with all due permission from Chetan Bhagat (they'd better after all the brouhaha post the film) and decided to screen the play as a part of a country wide tour that kicks off in Bangalore. With the first performance going a little haywire, the second performance, that we managed to catch, seemed perfect, technicalities included.

If you've read the book, you'd be happy to know they've stuck by most of it, with slight surprises in between that will offend no fan. We were thoroughly impressed with the laugh riot that humoured the life of students in India's most prestigious institutions.

What we couldn't seem to grasp was why when given the opportunity to freewheel with the script by Bhagat the man himself did they still not choose to change geographical location.

It was funny to come across three 'North Indian' youngsters in an IIT in Delhi, with such South Indian sensibilities and comic timing. I for one, could only picture the play happening in some IIT down south, and the funniest of moments came from dialogue deliveries that beamed of South Indian wit.

The book is funny, but the play is funnier, only because the cast manages to tickle that much-protected home-grown sense of humour and sarcasm.

The casting has to be appreciated too and all of us seemed to be in love with Ryan Oberoi (played by Naveen in that show), for the most obvious of reasons.

The character essayed by Ryan is that of young, 'unfairly' good looking confident boy and did Naveen play out his part to perfection or what! The truth of the matter be told, he managed to get the crush-meter rise by several degrees on the panel of reviewers (this one in particular) and convinced us, quite forcibly of his acting prowess. We loved the soliloquy and would love to see you in more roles in the future.

That apart, we really did appreciate Sudarshan as Hari, and a little birdie told us this was his first performance! Kudos, for all those moments that got collective sighs from an audience that seemed to love you loads.
u00a0
Bhargav as Alok was amazing too, but our favourite without comparison was the subtle yet wild Neha, played by Amrita to perfection.

We do realize that other performers might be playing these roles in other performances, but a review would be incomplete without these special personal mentions, hence ignore the review if you catch the play with someone else in these roles.

We're however convinced those performances will be equally good as the spunk and energy that we see in this troupe is incomparable.

A reviewer who watched the performance with me, was also quite thrilled that the play by itself, sans all the other popular connections, seemed entertaining a narrative enough.
u00a0
The fact that it took him back to his college days and reminded him of memories otherwise forgotten, was the sole reason for him to relish the performance as much as he did.

The complete cast ensemble is from Bangalore excluding one senior actor who was roped in from Chennai, and we're really proud of the whole lot of you.

You've proven that we have young theatrical talent on par with any other city in this country and Bangalore's theatre scene may not see such bad days in the years to come. That surely is a lovely reassurance and we're thankful to Evam for the experience.

At Ranga Shankara, J P Nagar 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm
On January 28 and 29 and Good Shepherd Hall, Residency Road
On March 6 Tickets are available at Landmark (both outlets), Crossword Book Store, Blossoms Book House, Goobe's Book Republic and online at www.indianstage.in
Call 9686467771Or log onto www.evam.in