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FINAL DRAFT

Introduction:
Girish Joshi conducts teaching sessions on scriptwriting at the Media School. As part of their exercises, whenever he
asks his students to cull out their own experiences, they try and put an imaginary story to it and exactly when he asks
them to write an imagination, they tend to add realism to it. What is the cause for this? This was the thought that
inspired him to write out this play.

The Synopsis:
Gone are those days when one could watch only one channel of Doordarshan and a few regional channels as well.
This is the revolution era of the entertainment industry and you can find multiple channels, serials being aired
throughout the day. This need has given birth to new writers, directors, technicians and actors – and consequently
courses and then media schools where such courses get conducted. This is a story of a professor and his student
from a television academy – he teaches the script-writing course at this academy.

The protagonist is this girl who is unable to grasp what the professor teaches at the academy and when he realizes
that, he invites her home to give her special coaching. The professor triggers off these questions in the girl’s mind –
“What are the basics of writing? What is the story structure? What is imagination? What is the exact difference
between real life and fiction? Discussions and counter reactions over these issues soon start making a foray into
their personal lives. The girl has come to town from a small village and till date has led a very confused and
directionless life. She is an average intelligent girl but is troubled by the thought that life has got nothing better to
offer her – she has ambition to become a prolific writer but is unwilling to put in hard work and bring about
changes within her to do so. Hence she is unable to complete even a small exercise given by her professor. This
continues over the next few sessions but she is unable to improve. Perhaps this is because, she has read the
professor’s work ever since she was a child and when she meets him, she realizes he is not what she thought him to
be and starts disliking him. The professor, who has managed to earn some name for him 15 years before, is
trying to write a play since the last 3 years. But he is not happy with his work. He is not given due respect at the
Academy. On his personal front, he has an incompatible relationship with his wife and has become surely irritable. He
is unable to answer some very basic questions asked very innocently by this girl and this hurts his ego. He is
perplexed – he feels his personal life and his writings are sometimes poles apart – he is unable to do justice to both.

Both these characters – deeply hurt and scared within – throw important questions of their lives at each other. The
main reason of discussing their subject of “scriptwriting” is left aside and they start digging at each other’s personal
lives. They hurt each other as if they want to gain their own self-respect by doing so. A likelihood of close proximity
developed amongst them, elopes and they part. But something very positive gets generated out of this – they realize
their agonies, blemishes, faults and for the first time, a ray of self-realization dawns in their minds. When they meet
after some time….. Her story has got selected for some commercial project – she actually has been able to build a
confidence that she can write well. The professor on the other hand completes his incomplete work of 3 years! A
crispy tale which weaves its intricacies amongst the audience and one is left to wonder whether there are more
underlying tones to the entire drama than what have been portrayed. As many people, those many thoughts and
those many conclusions!

Makadachya hati Champagne

This two act play written by Dr. Vivek Bele is a humorous comment made on the manipulative overtures of the
political mind. Political mind, because the manipulations may be designed and applied as much in mainstream politics
as much in the personal relationships.

The characters in the play are three roommates, of which one imagines he has found his love. The friends address
each other by names they have invented on the basis of their individual personalities. So, here we have the
uncouth and aggressive ‘Chaku (Knife)’, who brings home the woman he would like to marry to meet his friends
‘Pustak (Book)’ who like his name goes by the book and ‘Makad’ a T.V channel journalist who could move heaven
and earth to find news.

The lady herself is unabashed about changing her mind when it suits her, and moving on with life. With no
answerability to an erasable past she aptly renames herself ‘Pencil’.

The story becomes a chain of witty battles between the four characters as Pustak and Chaku both woo Pencil while
Makad eggs on both individually. The duel goes on parallel to the Elections news that is being shown on TV.
The two men vie for the lady’s favors just as the opposing candidates vie for public support. The media and Makad
meanwhile enjoy the show as long as the bottle of champagne is not opened. Because champagne means
celebration and celebration means everybody is happy which clearly does not agree with their psyche.

Then Pencil marries Pustak and things seem to come to a dead end. But Makad would not let that happen. He now
convinces Chaku that he is not out of the race and that he can still have his love back. Strategies are built,
manipulations galore and wit abounds. Every time there is a possibility of stability, Makad the media man becomes
restless and succeeds in unsettling the situation once again. Who gets the lady, who gets the chair? Whom does the
lady favor, whom does the public uphold? In a thoroughly enjoyable laughter ridden two hours of moves and
countermoves, Director Girish Joshi brings out the stark insensitivity and selfishness of the human mind in no
uncertain terms.