Director: Avneesh Mishra

Cast: Akarsh Khurana, Shivani Tanksale, Gopal Tiwari, Satchit Puranik,Pawan Uttam, Lokesh Rai,  Sumeet Vyas         

Duration: 1 hour 15 mins 

Language: Hindi

Theatre Group: Rangshila

 

Rangshila’s adaptation of Hungarian playwright Fritz Karinthy’s academic satire, Refund is absorbing yet inconsistent. 

 

A disillusioned Buddhisagar returns to his school, Moon Educational Trust,eighteen years later to claim a refund of the fees he paid for an education never received.What takes off is a series of misleading manipulations at the hand of his ex-Principal and ex-teachers who reinforce his faith in his education. Buddhisagar who has failed to find any employment in the real world succumbs once again to his teacher’s tricks,in a question-answer duel. 

 

Thoroughly peppered with humour, Refund sets out to entertain as it obliquely moralizes. Problems lie however,in the play’s jerky shifts from extremely funny to terribly flat. The opening scene between Buddhisagar and the Principal is a case in this point – references to You Tube,Bigg Boss and Kaun Banega Crorepati which hold the promise of a guffawing audience, don’t evoke anything except silence due to their weak rendering.Several thought provoking bits arrive in erratic dribs and drabs. 

 

The set is quintessentially academic; table, chair and blackboard set. Mishra’s direction though is fairly interesting.There are several comic inserts where the cast arrives as a symbolic troop of blinded real-worlders who are callous and defiantly resist questions or change.This works as an engaging yet light-hearted social commentary. 

 

Shivani Tanksale is a fantastic double-chinned history teacher while Satchit Puranik plays the nuanced Bengali teacher of geography with utmost honesty and risible skill. Akarsh Khurana makes a moderately fine Principal. Gopal Tiwari, however, deserves more praise for the music and singing than he does for essaying Buddhisagar.He makes a back-bencher performance, by unfortunately cracking-up and smiling at onstage jokes even when he is supposed to be the object of ridicule. He seems to be enjoying the play’s humour, more than the audience.This repeated flaw deflates both the gravity and genuineness of protagonist’s purpose.The rest of the cast is mediocre and overall stage interactions as well as timing, lack sync. 

 

The play is a one-time watch for its ludicrous song and dance sequences and its unusual, situational-comedy like humour (wish they had a laugh track too).

 

 Asma holds a Master's Degree in English Literature and Applied Linguistics. She is an applied linguist, lecturer, freelance critic, research student and poet.