Review: Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Daddy’ is not so cool

It turned out to be a classic example of how a brand image can be stronger than its actual contents

KARACHI:

Frequent visits to Pakistan may have made him a household name in the country but his productions still carry extraordinary expectations with them.  Most of those expectations were left unfulfilled on Monday night’s performance of the esteemed filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s Daddy; a theatre production that turned out to be a classic example of how a brand image can be stronger than its actual contents.

That’s perhaps why the audience enjoyed Mahesh and his daughter Pooja Bhatt’s short talk at the curtain call more than anything else in the production.No it was not just a case of ‘stars stealing the limelight’ but rather how there was nothing worthy of being noticed before the stars took the stage.

Directed by Danish Iqbal, the play is a stage adaptation of Pooja Bhatt’s film debut of the same name. It revolves around the story of Pooja (Nishant Thakkar), who lives a happy-go-lucky life with her grandparents. The play begins with Pooja reading from the diary of her deceased mother and some key revelations about her father make her embrace an altogether new struggle.

Even for someone who has already watched the film, the overall plot is quite engaging but problems arise as soon as the actors pace action on stage. They tried to pump up the drama by going over the top while delivering dialogues (a trick that usually works in theatre) but failed terribly in this case because of the synthetic sound of the microphones. In a small space like NAPA’s, microphones will always work against the actors and that is why many of the very dramatic moments were killed by lacking the rawness of sound that theatre demands.

A few years back, a play like Daddy may have been well received by Karachi audiences but with time, their tastes have evolved. People laughed during some of the very intensely heart-rending and dramatic scenes of the play - that may have partly to do with our desensitisation as a nation at large but largley it was the Star Plus approach to theatre that was getting noticed and being jessed at.

“Inka bass chalay yeh ‘Ek tha tiger’ ka bhi theatre play bana lay” whispered an audience member during the play.  This line pretty much sums up the ‘Daddy ‘experience. It relies heavily on conventional film techniques such as background score and sound effects to create drama on stage. It seems as if every instance will be followed by a forceful close-up but it doesn’t.

Where the spirit of Mahesh Bhatt and his troupe of travelling to Pakistan despite visa issues must be commended, it is also a reality check for the organisers that this much hyped production from India was the weakest import exhibited at the festival so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2015.

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