Amit Sharma won’t stop with just one shot at creativity. Click here for the next surprise from the creative master on Bagiya Bancharam Ki.

We finally have the videos of the play available online. It’s in two parts. Please use the following likns for torrent downloads. You will need a bitorrent client like utorrent for downloading the video.

• Torrent – Bagiya Bancharam Ki Video Part 1
• Torrent – Bagiya Bancharam Ki Video Part 2

In case you face any problems using the torrent downloads, you may download the videos directly from the following links (warning: this might be slow):

• Bagiya Bancharam Ki Video Part 1
• Bagiya Bancharam Ki Video Part 2

Do leave your comments once you have seen the videos. Enjoy!

Raabert aka Pramod Joshi wrote:

Here comes a fascinating report from the ‘First Audience’ of the play Bagiya Bancharam Ki. Click here to read Amit Sharma’s interpretation of the presentation. He wrote in his email:

Friends,

Here it is. The Inside Report of BBRK, as witnessed by reporter Amit Sharma at Roorkee on 12.09.2009.

Remember, as is common for journalism these days, this is the first part of the report, and the second report follows, shortly (read, in a couple of weeks).

Bye

AmmA

The practice of the play experienced many hurdles. Both work and personal life left us with little time and energy. Yet our passion kept us going.

Above our passion was one more super motivator – our grand senior 91 batch, Rajeev Roy,  with load of half the script, playing the protagonist. He was busy at work seven days, travelling the globe half the time, family with two kids, yet he was quick to merge with the character of the old man.

He was always on practice even while abroad, and always with huge amount of energy. I feel law of conservation of energy is a mistaken notion, some can create it. His example kept us motivated at all times.

Thanks to the communication revolution, today call costs are so low. We commenced our practice using conference call facility. Well, technology can be trusted but not the commercial concerns of men. Soon we found out that the conference call was abnormally dear. We soon imitated the call center executives, and started  use of the “The Skype” on internet.

The passage of years had not prompted anyone, to target a less strong performance. The responsibilities of Job, travel, work issues, family, kids were not willing to spare much time to anyone. Yet everyone struggled every bit to give the practice their very best.

The electronic methods of communication were not without disruptions. Practice without seeing the other person and responding to an electronically transmitted voice was not very comfortable. The projection levels also could not be checked.

Yet the practice on Skype gave us one extra opportunity i.e. use Instant messages. Those messages, sent  while the practice was on, are particularly interesting and deserve to be archived.

Travelling frequently and coping up with practice was even hard. Apart from practices, taking out time to read the script was even more difficult. After all, practice without reading the script yields minimal results.

In spite of the above, our director had trust in the passion of the cast. He encouraged that we shall work day and night and fill all the gaps, for which the geographical barriers are responsible.    He had infinite which was essential for a cast practicing in such circumstances.

Then a question where to stage the play?

Maybe Mumbai-convenient for half the cast, easy to arrange things. However the correct answer was Civil Aud @ Roorkee, after all we wished to re-live that experience.

Next question when to stage it?

The session of the IIT Roorkee and the prior n ad-hoc engagements of the cast members, made us reschedule  the dates of staging. Then the final dates were set to 11^th & 12^th Sept, 2009.

Arrangements for civil-aud booking, travel and stay of the cast were done. At the end we made our practice  a daily affair. Missing of the dialogues and cues by cast members during the practice gave director a tough time.

Then we all started to meet at Roorkee on the 5^th of Sept, 2009.

Coverage in Hindustan

Coverage in Amar Ujala

Coverage in Dainik Jagaran

I woke up early and did not sleep very well last night. Despite a good show yesterday, today was an even bigger day. We had to better our performance. For ourselves, for the alumni who were coming, for our families. A dialogue from ‘Adividrohi Spartacus’ kept poping up in my mind – ‘Pehal khel to bahut accha tha, lekin doosra khel – tch tch tch’. Will our Doosra Khel be better or will it be tch tch tch?

Continue reading Notes from BBRK Day 8 – 12th September

Today has finally arrived! I was up earlier than usual due to the anxiety and excitement. So was Chandan. It was still raining and the first thought in my head was that the rains should not spoil the show. It seemed like most of the students did not believe in umbrellas. Will they venture out in the rain to watch a play staged by Alumni, which has been prepared in less than 6 days? We will find out!

Continue reading Notes from BBRK Day 7 – 11th September