Show Time

This was way back in 1999 ( I already feel like a war veteran recounting his tales of valour to his grandchildren, the twenty fifth time), Manoj and I were in that state of bliss a.k.a ignorance when one is newly married.

We were staying in Kochi, Manoj helping Pastor Jacob in the church and me accompanying him everywhere. As in any church, much discussions were going on regarding the events to usher in the time of Christmas. After much considerations, an outreach was planned out with singing and a sermon but the main attraction was to be a play penned by one of the church members. Kalpana was such a gifted person that she brought the next Sunday, the entire script for the play. The theme sounded pretty interesting. And the programme was named "Reason for the Season."

The play was split into two acts, Act1 shows Joseph and his wife Mary (with a huge belly and frequent shrieks) searching for a place to stay. They would meet three inn keepers and the third inn keeper would agree to accommodate them in the stable after much persuasion by his wife. Second act would show a resurrected Jesus knocking at the 'heart's' door of three persons; only the third person receives Him. This was to be followed by a dramatisation of the song Via Dolarosa (the way of the Cross) and then the rest of the crew would do a slow dance to the song "You laid aside Your majesty..." Sounded good to everyone.

So, soon after the service, the church gathered to decide on the cast. The third inn keeper and his persistent wife were filled in by Commander Varghese and our pastor's wife Suja. The other characters were identified and Ben and his wife Princy were zeroed in to play Joseph and a very pregnant Mary. For the song Via Dolarosa, Manoj was chosen to play the suffering Christ who had to carry a wooden cross across a tortuous route across the stage and then be crucified.

The enthusiasm was too much to hold and every evening we got together at pastor's home for practice. We had fun acting, dancing, mocking, making props and finally feasting. Everything went on well and the only thing that was lacking was the costumes for the Big Show. This problem was soon solved as someone promised to arrange for it and that was soon forgotten in the atmosphere rip roaring with excitement.

And the D-day arrived with the whole worship team from Trivandrum arriving to perform for the show (The play was to start after a time of singing). The Fine Arts Hall in Kochi, the chosen venue, saw some early activity in the late afternoon as all of us were scurrying about getting things ready, but the greatest of all the thoughts that was nagging each of us was the costumes. The man who gave word to bring all the required dresses was still at large. Then word came that he has finally arrived and was at the men's changing room giving out the outfits and soon will be at the women's room with the gowns and stuff...

The waiting ended when finally through the door a box was hurriedly handed over followed by a command to get dressed up as fast as we could as the first set of audience were already seated. Suja was the first to get her hands on to the dress and she gave a yelp! The dress that was given to her for her role as the inn-keeper's wife was a gaudy, fluffy, frilly, eye-blastingly coloured frock that could be worn only by those brightly coloured faced Yakshagana troupes (Yakshagana is a folk art form) . Soon all realised that if they had to use those outifts that were just delivered, they would end up looking like a bunch of multicoloured balloons. Except for Princy who played Mary, who got a respectable gown of light colour out of the collection, the rest had to think of innovative methods to look like Jewish ladies. Someone (I wouldn't want to name to avoid any amount of defamation) had a wonderful idea of retaining her salwar top and an underskirt, usually worn inside a sari, and a head scarf as her costume for the day. Looked great to me until at the end of the show, some old lady spoke disgustedly to another "about a woman who was shameless enough to stand on stage in her underskirt!!"

There was greater confusion ensuing in the men's room as the dresswallah who boasted to be the supplier for Malayalam movies brought out tunic after tunic which would fit none of the men around. There were at least five male characters and he had brought only one set of beard and a wig!!! The moustaches were missing and there was no white tunic for the character of Jesus to wear. Finally Ben who was playing Joseph thankfully forfeited the beard and the wig which was then to be shared between Commander Varghese and Manoj. All settled and the show began...
After an electrifying time of singing, the play started. The first scene, Joseph (devoid of beard, sporting crew cut) and Mary (appropriately attired) go in search of a place. Two inns past, they get shelter in the stable of the third inn.

Scene two, the risen Jesus enters...and this Jesus looked really different. He was wearing an electric blue tunic that barely reached his knees and the wig was a shock of brown fur that was propped on the head. As he delivered his dialogues, the onlookers waited anxiously for the brown mop to fall off. Someone asked another, "What is John the Baptist doing here?" Then the next terrible thing happened. The beard that was pasted on to his face gave way but Commander Varghese was a man of quick thinking and held on to the beard for the rest of the Act (looked very thoughtful indeed before each line was uttered) and (almost) saved the day.

Back stage, the next Jesus (Manoj) was getting readied for the Via Dolarosa song. Manoj being too tall had to be content with a small white frock that our costume man fished out of his Pandora's box. And as luck would have it there was no moustache for Manoj (he was clean shaven unlike Com. Varghese). And here comes our innovative dressman with an eyebrow pencil to draw a moustache for Manoj! The beard, which was now split in the middle was duly attached and the wig, now more like a storm-hit nest, was fitted with a twisted ring of twigs which served a duel purpose - it held the false hair in place like a lady's bow (Abhishek Bachhan had this idea much later) and it was also to be the Christ's crown of thorns. Manoj suffered much on-stage to balance the cross on his shoulder while adjusting his drooping beard. The moustache, a masterpiece with the eye-brow pencil, was never visible to the naked eye.

Scene three started and the suffering Jesus followed by His mourners entered stage. All went well and the play came to an end.

Then as we trooped out at the end of the day's events, relieved that nothing else went wrong, I heard someone say, "I have seen many Jesus plays but I have never seen a cross-bearing Jesus look like a Mulla!!"