Director: Nadira Zaheer Babbar

Cast: Ashish Vidyarthi

Language: Hindi

Theatre Group: Ekjute

 

It’s a pity to see an actor like Ashish Vidyarthi being wasted in the film industry due to bad roles. The NSD pass-out who made a gigantic entry into filmdom with Drohkal unfortunately got lost in B-grade film genre. The play Dayashankar Ki Diary gives the audience an opportunity to witness Ashish at his best yet. 

 

The play is a monologue by Dayashankar (Ashish Vidyarthi), a small town guy who comes to Mumbai to become an actor. His dreams are shattered when he has to settle for a clerical job in MLA's office. He hates his job, his boss and is infatuated with the MLA's daughter. He starts hallucinating and living in his own world to the point when he gets trapped in it. His imaginations meddle with the reality and he struggles to separate them.

 

The pressures of the big city, dreams, the fight for survival helps the audience to understand Dayashankar's life and possibly relate to it in some way. Nadira Zaheer Babbar has captured the nuances of the life in Mumbai through Dayashankar's eyes. 

 

Ashish plays the schizophrenic Dayashankar with natural ease. He showcases a range of emotions beautifully and makes the audience laugh and cry with him. It’s not very often you see performances where the actor stops being himself and becomes the character instead. Well, this was one of them.