by Nidhi Pipal

“All the world's a stage”, rightly said by William Shakespeare.

Theatre, like poetry and dance; is an art of expressing. It gives the freedom to be a social x-ray of society. Dhoop Chaoon is a unique Hindi Theatre group in Atlanta, which not only promotes Hindi language but also gives any and everyone a stage to perform and show their talent. With a team of 60-70 members, this group has been presenting an annual entertainment show since 2007, along with few others including Natkhat Rangshala, which is a theatre group for children.

On April 30th, Dhoop Chaoon presented another successful show with its 60 members. The show was opened by Gillian Wilson. The MC of the show were Vikas Rattan Goyal and Kamlesh Chugh. The show consisted three major presentations, including a comedy play, a Bollywood dance ensemble, and a group of several short skits. The show started with the Comedy play, Gaj Foot Inch, offered audience a bundle of laugh. The story is a flashback of a married couple, how their marriage was arranged by their parents, their meetings in park, and how they got along on the same page. Along with the tickling story by K.P Saxena, the actors’ performance was very much appreciated. The talent mine included Naveen Tyagi, Vijay Tandon, Rita Kapahi, Satish Dharmarajan, Shilpa Gautam, Shiwali Daryapurkar and Syed Hafeez. This was followed by a break for dinner. After sumptous dinner, the show continued with Hum Kal Aaj aur Kal. This was a series of Bollywood dances. The theme was to show how our clothes, songs, etc. have changed over time; but our society still stays where it was eras ago.

Dance director, Rahim Hussain, did a good job in choreography of six dances, each from a different era. The dancers were Neetu Sharma, Gopendra Sharma, Varsha Gupta, Aadersh Gupta, Syed Hafeez, Shree Vora, Rozina Gillani, Rahim Hussain, Tarana Malik, Vikas Jain and Nidhi Pipal. After this came the presentation of group of experiences narrated by a bench, in the fom of different colors of rainbow: Aao Aaj Mann Halka Kar Lein. Yes, a bench. This included several skits. It narrates how different kinds of people came and sat on it and how its journey has been. One by one, it takes audience to different scenarios with different places and people. The first one was thoughts of Kuch Anutarit Prashna (Some Unanswerable Questions). Performed by the Founder/director, Sandhya Saxena Bhagat, spoke her mind about questions of life that do not have answers. Following this was Sikke Ka Doosra Pehlu (The other Side of the Coin): The story shows how a poor kid gets mistaken by the people, who usually think that poor kids are all thieves. The actors were: Anuj Jain, Paresh Jain, and Ahmad Batti. The next color in the rainbow was Sadak Kiske Baap Ki? (Who owns the road?): This was a Mime act which was about, how a family keeps their house clean but not its surroundings and how they were taught a lesson. Artists included: Shree Vora, Rozina Gillani, Tehseen Khan, Neetu Sharma, Varsha Gupta, and Nidhi Pipal. Then came the thoughts expressed by Main Sasikala Bajirao Godbole (I, Sasikala Bajirao Godbole) : The story of an aspiring but unsuccessful actress, whose life was changed with a visit from the soul of her departed mom. The artists were RenuThapiyal and Veena Katdare. Then came Chor-Chor Mausere Bhai (Birds of the same feather flock together): This is a story of two thieves who are good friends, but how their friendship was broken because of a mere shorts. The actors were Anuj Jain and Paresh Jain. Last, but not the least was, Ye Aurtein Bhi Kya Bala Hain?: This short play was a satirical take on superficial relationships. Five women’s meeting on a funeral ended with a selfie in pose. Actors included Meenakshi Mehta, Shalini Kumar, Veena Katdare, Shree Vora, Manjeet Bedi, Gurupdesh Bedi.

Lights and Sound were taken care of by Gandharv Bhagat and Anil Bhagat. Backstage team included Ekta Narula Sethi, Santosh Shally, Talat Alvi, Bimal Pathak. Food co-ordination was done by Sanjeev Aggarwal, with help of Advait Anand Pawandeep Singh, Deepti Agarwal, Rachita Mahadevan, Shankar Mahadevan. Ayan Agarwal and Kartikay Bhagat. Front desk was handled by Suparna Pathak, Seema Saxena, Meenaksh Iyer.
Thanks to Sandeep Savla for providing sound system and to Edward Gibson for his help.

Videograpy was done by Puneet Bhatnagar, Still Photography handled by Hiral Hussian.

Thanks to deputy councellor of India D.V. Singh and Srinivasan Rangachari, Anagha Rangachari, Razdans for patronizing our show.

The program was an exemplary success because of the generous donations from Kartikay Bhagat, Shamim Dalwai, Dr Naazeen Dalwai, Patel Brothers, Jeetan Singh and 27th Group.

A special thanks to TV Asia for the coverage of the show. Thanks To media for their support, to Berkmar School for providing this facility, to Global Mall and to South Asian grocery stores for promoting it.

A big thanks to Atlanta audience for making the show a big hit. Next year Dhoop Chaoon will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary. Do not miss the show.

To keep in touch please follow us on either: Facebook: Dhoop Chaoon - Hindi Theater Group, or send email to Sandhya Saxena Bhagat Founder/Director
dhoop.chaoon@gmail.com, Phone: (404) 585-7247.