Aswastha - A Short Length Play

Aswastha Apurnankache Padgham was initially wriiten as a short length play. It was performed by Kelkar - Vaze College , Thane in all the major competitions in year 2007. It did quiet awesome in almost all the areas and it got the chance to perform in the most popular 'Sawaai' competition.


All the cast and crew did well and they managed to bag no. of prizes and appreciation at various levels. Around 40 students from the college performed in it with live music and singing. 

The play was based on the 'Jatra' form of presentation which is originally of Bengal. It uses human formations to present different situations and places where the different scenes are being formed.

Aswastha - A Full Length Journey

After the grand success of the short length play Mrs. Sushma Bhagwat who directed most of the part of it striked an innovative idea of presenting it to the full length for the 48th State Competition. The director then discussed with writer Mr. Bhalchandra Kubal about it and got the short script extended to the full length by including more scenes to give it more firm and complete base.

Meanwhile director searched producers for the play and then the entry to the State Competition was made under 'Municipal Majdur Union' banner.

As the full length script was ready; director began to cast. As the script had many characters; director had to do a lot of work. Mr. Sudhir Patankar, Mrs. Mangal Jadhav helped the director to the fullest to get the casting done. 

Most of the cast was from 'Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai' from various departments and some were children of the staff of MCGM. Then started the reading session. The language used in the script is too heavy for the normal audience; therefore director had to work on each line of the script to present it effectively. The director worked hard to first understand the meaning and intention of each single line then to make it understand to each character and finally to get it prounounced perfectly in a proper ascent to reach it perfectly to the audience.

Unfortunately director had to face the biggest hurdle in the journey and that was the hunt for the lead role 'Aryabhatta'. From day 1 to the final day director faced countless problems but this one was the biggest as it was related to the lead role. In all 3 actors came and after some reading sessions they refused to play the character. That was the crucial time for the director as only few days were remaining for the show. Then came Mr. Pralhad Kalkoti who accepted the challenge and despite of being from different language background he not only performed the character in very short time but bagged a Best Actor Award for the same.

After reading sessions started rehearsals. That was the most tiring part for the director. As there were more than 50 characters; director had to manage rehearsals timings with everyone's comfort and she did it to the fullest without complaining even once.

Director coordinated with each and every character to get the best out of them while choreographer Mr. Dinesh Goregaonkar composed graceful Mudras (A dancing form) and synchronised them well with different moods of the play. Those Mudras were used to change the scenes instead of using Black outs. The girls who performed the Mudras were also the professional and trained dancers. 

After plotting every scene and lot of rehearsing of main stream characters was the time to build human formations. The final 10 days were unforgettable to almost everyone as it had a lot of hardwork and a pinch of fun and enjoyment too! Those days were the magical moments for the whole camp and the rehearsals used to be for the whole day. At the end of the day almost everyone used to feel tired but the next day all used to come with the great amount of energy into them.

Till the final day human formations were going on and all were tensed about what will happen on the show. Director and assistant directors were irritated to some extent on the final day but by the God's grace and hardwork and dedication of each and every member of camp the show was an ultimate success with everyone performed really well. Hats off to all the characters who were standing for the whole 2 and half hours without saying a word and quietly forming the defined formations time to time which were used instead of traditional box set(Jatra Form). The whole play was depended on them and they have done a superb job.


The play secured 5 awards including Second Rank in the competition winning Best Actor, Best Set, Best Director (2nd), Consolation Prize for Actress (Mrs. Sampada Sontakke).