Astitva Natak Review:
Astitva puts Bharat Jadhav in an avtar never seen before and he carries the play shielding the rusty writing and poor direction!

Rating:

Plot:
Santosh Hasolkar, a BMC sweeper on the verge of his retirement, is struggling to make ends meet! Him and his family strive hopelessly for existence in the city of dreams, Mumbai.

Team:
Writer and Director – Swapnil Jadhav
Set Design – Sachin Gaonkar
Light Design – Shyam Chavan
Music – Sai Piyush
Cast – Chinmayee Sumit, Saloni Surve, Hardik Jadhav, Shyam Ghorpade, Jayraj Nayar and Bharat Jadhav!

Detailed Review:
As the tagline of the play suggests, “Apekshanchya gardit haravlelya natyancha Astitva” (Existence of relationships lost in the piles of expectations!), the play is full of melodrama and emotionally vulnerable characters. Bharat Jadhav has made a comeback to this genre after so so long that he feels like someone else completely.

The play starts with two siblings, Mayur (Hardik Jadhav) and Darshana (Saloni Surve), fighting over Darshana’s take on marriage. Pratima (Chinmayee Sumit) their mother keeps intervening from time to time. She too is against Darshana’s will to not get married. All of this erupts into a big fight about the house and shifting into a new place. Mayur says derogatory remarks towards his father’s profession i.e a BMC sweeper.

The centerpiece of all of this is Santosh Hasolkar (Bharat Jadhav) who is fighting to bring electricity to his village house for the past 5 years. The fact that he will have to leave this BMC quarter soon since his retirement is very near. Mayur is an arrogant son who constantly brings up his father’s profession and wants to leave the house as soon as possible. Darshana doesn’t want to get married until she finds someone educated and from MUMBAI! Pratima seems hopeless because she doesn’t want to leave the house that she made a home out of in the last 3 decades. This drama escalates to different heights as some secret struggles of every family member come forward scene by scene.

As soon as the curtains open, the set design takes you directly into the small studio apartment somewhere in a Mumbai Chawl. The details are so so good. Sachin Gaonkar does his best there. A beautiful metaphor also plays in the set as you can see tall buildings and skyline behind the chawl. The light design by Shyam Chavan is also subtle yet striking. The music especially the title track background is very heavy and beautiful.

Coming to the important part, the writing and direction, by Swapnil Jadhav. The dialogues and the placement of scenes doesn’t really work most of the times. The writing is rusty and feels like it is a decade late. The scenes don’t escalate as they should and you constantly keep feeling that the actor’s performance is carrying the play forward. The first half is still fast paced and moves on quick but the second half goes haywire with piles of emotional tension.

Bharat Jadhav and Chinmayee Sumit carry the play with their presence and intense energy. Bharat Jadhav has not done a serious role in quite a long time and he aces it like a pro. Saloni Surve and Hardik Jadhav are decent and considering they are newcomers; some fumbles are digestible. Jayraj Nayar plays a funny and interesting cameo.

All in all, Astitva dives deep into the emotionally vulnerable lives of a struggling blue collar worker’s middle-class family and how our existence is something only what we believe who we are. A heavy dose of melodrama so can be a fun watch with family.

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