Audience stays away from controversial play Aamhi Panchpute at Borivli theatre
The ‘bombed’ Marathi play, Aamhi Panchpute, opened to audiences at Borivli’s Prabodhankar Thackeray auditorium yesterday, amid tight security. Around 250 tickets were sold for the first show at 4.30 pm, which meant several empty seats in a theatre that has a capacity of 700. In fact, most of the seats were occupied by the Mumbai police, the bomb disposal squad and the press.The show began 20 minutes late. Usher Vinayak Kamat who had seen playwright Santosh Pawar’s earlier play Yada Kadachit at the same theatre, remarked that Aamhi... definitely appeared to be a sequel. Pawar’s satirical comedy is a pathetic attempt to boost his ticket sales (which hasn’t worked). Yet, Pawar should be applauded for tearing to bits political parties by naming them in the play and their numerous endeavours of taking on both North Indians as well as Maharashtrian voters for a ride.Producer Santosh Kanekar added, “The police had watched the play, but they have not approached us saying we were maligning a particular community,” he said. Ramdas Kadam one of the viewers who had come to see the play said that he came because he was curious about the story. “I think people should not see this play because it is in bad taste. Maharashtrians should stop giving any publicity to this mediocre stuff.”
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