On the quiet afternoon of March 11th, 2007, the white hall on the premises of the serene Emory campus was filled with the sounds of Indian radio from decades ago. One peek through the double doors of the auditorium, brought back memories of a time when the radio was the sole medium of entertainment for the masses of India. The audience, most of them in their prime years, were living their youth, a trip down the memory lane. The stage performances in elaborate attire and soul filling music brining back many a memories for all.

This was the ambiance at the stage production for the Senior Citizen Community organization of Atlanta. The program was organized by the efforts of Mrs. Raj Razdan Ji, of the senior citizen program, and Deepika Bahari, department head of the south Asian studied at Emory University. Dr. and Mrs. Mitra were the chief guest for this auspicious event.

The event, produced and directed by Sandhya Bhagat, was a collaborative effort of the members of

Sandhya Bhagat

the group 'Dhoop Chhaon'. Sandhya Bhagat, who is an avid writer, poetess and an all around ambassador of art and theater, brought together talented friends and family to form the theater group. Dhoop-Chhaon (Sunlight-Shade), is a collection of about 30 volunteer that have come together to realize their passion for stage productions. Taking times out from their busy work and school days, the members practiced for more than a month in preparation of this show.

The show was a comedic theme production based around the ‘Vividh Bharti ka Vigyapan Program’ from the olden times of early 'All India Radio'. The theme was aptly chosen, by Sandhya Bhagat, to bring back some old memories for the illustrious and dadas and dadis and nanas and nanis of the ever growing Indian community here in Atlanta. The program went through, in a chronological order, through a daily schedule from the morning through the late night in a day of the radio broadcast.

The event started with the onset of the morning with the melodious sound of ‘Vande Matram’ music with an iconic ‘Mother India’ (Shaweta Jain) appearing on stage. She was then joined by extravagantly dressed children in many different costumes spanning the cultural gamut of Indian society. The children presented flowers to Mother India, before taking their place beside her.

The broadcast started with, ‘Devaki Nandan Pandeji’ (Atul Makar), presenting the 8am morning news and introduced the musical program 'Bhoolaie Bisraie Geet'. At this time elaborately dressed Bindu Chauhan and Nitika Jain, then came on stage and performed a dance to the familiar song ‘Reshmi Salwar Kurta Jaali Da’. The hall was filled with the tandem clapping of hands as the song slowly faded to it conclusion.
 

Next was the time for an adaptive playwrite, ‘Talash Arjun Ki’(Search for Arjun). In which a director, ‘BhopuBhai’ (Anuj Jain) and his lead actor, ‘Popat’ (Vinay Singh) are in search for a cast member to play the part of ‘Arjun’ in their movie. The play revolved around the casting call auditions by illustrious characters from different background of Indian culture. The casting started with Bengali Babu (Atul Makar), then came Mirza Sahib (Vikas Khanna). Followed by Ayengar (GopalKrishnan Aksheyalingium) and lastly SardarJi (NavdeepLooma), who all failed the audition. The play concluded with Bhopu Bhai devasted when his lead Popat quits after being harassed by his mother, Sarangi Devi (Suparna Pathak).
 

Now a musical play was presented in the 9p.m hour in the 'Hawa Mahal Segment'. ‘Jai Mata Di’, was written and elocuted by Sandhya Bhagat and went through comical experiences over the journey through the foothills of Himalayas to the final destination of 'Vaishnu Devi'. As the play was elocuted, three actresses, Renu Kumar, Meenakshi Iyer and Veena Katdare, took upon different characters and acted out the scenes described by the many small skits.

The event concluded with the whole cast appearing on stage with the song ‘Ramiya Vasta Vaiya’ playing in the background. The cast members entered onto the stage in their character, dancing/fighting/climbing. Apart from the main items, there were two mimes, by Gandharv, Kartikay Bhagat, GopalKrishnan Aksheyalingium and Neelank Pathak. Along with old radio commercials to keep the ambiance through the entire event. Mc’s. Sandhya Bhagat and Manju Tiwari, themselves took upon characters to aid the flow and narrated the program, as if a live broadcast. The music was edited together by Aporva Srivastav and Gandharv Bhagat. The backstage and lighting support was given by Rohan Iyer, Madhav Katdare, Suresh Balachandran, Geeta Loomba and Chinti Bali. And the stage lighting were controlled by Anil Bhagat.

All in all, the evening was a comedic adventure into the past and brought back many a laughs and memories. Every small details were considered and every pieces fell in, to create an eventful and joyous evening leaving the audience wanting more.



Contact : Dhoop Chhaon 770-680-1770