This story is from April 20, 2019

Gujarati play 'Raavto' is an entertaining tale of love and betrayal delivered with poise

Directed by Rohit Prajapati, the play was staged by a Vadodara-based theatre group at Natrani amphitheatre in Ahmedabad recently
Gujarati play 'Raavto' is an entertaining tale of love and betrayal delivered with poise
Review
1
Title – Raavto

Language – Gujarati

Genre – Crime and action thriller

Director – Rohit Prajapati

Duration – 2 hour 15 minutes

Cast - Priyank Gangwani, Sharvary Joshi, Rohit Prajapati, Prayag Barchha, Trishala Jhala and 7 others

Rating – 4 stars

Raavto, a Gujarati adaptation of Othello by Rohit Prajapati and his team from Vadodara was staged at a Greek-style amphitheater along the bank of Sabarmati in the city recently as part of a two-day festival to celebrate Shakespeare and his works.
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The two-act tragic play opens in a village of north Gujarat with young men and women making an entry onto the stage while singing and dancing on garba tunes amid brilliant use of colourful lights that add a festive character to the whole set up.

Chandu’s (enacted by Kanhaiyalal Parmar) world is however turned upside down when he finds out that his fiancé Sati (Sharvary Joshi) has eloped with a farmer Raavto (Priyank Gangwani) and even the panchayat has ruled in their favour leading to much resentment. Even Sati couldn’t believe that his father has broken all ties with her and she will have to live in her lover’s house till they get married. The patriarchal father later tells the antihero Raavto that, “
Je dikri pota na baap ne chhori sake, te vakhat aava par tane pan chhorva ma ek baar na vichariye.” Meanwhile, in his bid to get Sati back, Chandu begins to conspire with Raavto’s greedy and partially blind brother Bakkar (Rohit Prajapati) who wants to usurp Raavto and their younger brother Digo’s (Prayag Barchha) share of property. Trying various tricks and using several characters including the domestic help who dreams of ruling the house where she works today for his personal gains, Bakkar is able to convince Raavto that Sati and Digo are cheating on him. His portrayal of all things evil and the number of times he blinked his eye in a minute throughout the play makes one wonder whether he was acting ‘Bakkar bariya’ or was like that in real life! Priyank and Sharvary are able to bring out the chemistry while depicting the age-old romance between lovers, so is Prayag in depicting devar-bhabhi relationship.
Priyank has balanced his transformation from an innocent, die-hard lover who says that Sati and he are inseparable like fragrance from flower to a heartless, suspicious, jealous, harassing husband. Not just his facial expressions but bodily movements to shedding tear after 10 minutes in a scene on stage left the audience spellbound. Sharvary brings alive the allegory of both Radha and Sita and was applauded for her voice modulation where she sings and reminisces her mother after being dejected by his husband. Trishala in the role of Chhipli is a comic relief and has enacted the mannerisms of a typical household help in a brilliant way.
The stage is done in a detailed manner with well-thought out spaces which act as a backdrop of various scenes ranging from the tulsi placed at the entrance of Raavto’s house, regional handicraft work on walls, drawing room, dressing table to the chaupal or tree where the panchayat is called to the backyards, lawns and farms of various characters where several scenes unfold. Every piece of article ranging from the jewellery, utensils to hookah develops the characters and enhance their rustic touch. One cannot miss the symbolic references to alcohol, drug consumption, casteism, black magic and farm crisis in the play.
Each aspect of light, music and costume is well thought out and adds to the play whose transition from one scene to another is smooth and will keep you on the edge of your seat from the start to the end. It won't be an exaggeration to say that the drama is a live movie on stage.
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