Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT) is back with yet another production, an original English language adaptation of 1950’s movie, Maya Bazaar. My father was a die-hard fan of the movie, and naturally, we watched it – not once, but several times. The original was in Telugu, a language I don’t understand much, but the movie had such a connection with its audience, we just connected with it. But it was then. Today’s audience cannot go ga-ga over S V Ranga Rao’s magic, or N T Rama Rao’s style or Relangi’s tomfoolery. This is exactly what drove BLT’s Sridhar Ramanathan to present the story in a modern context.
I admit I had my reservations. My mind said, “No, nobody can do justice to SVR, NTR, ANR and Savitri.” Last evening, I watched Maya Bazaar at Alliance Francaise – and, it was just awesome!
What an adaptation! Dang, I cannot reveal anything! Because you must watch it yourself to enjoy the production in all its glory. Superb comic timing, fantastic connections with current issues, and 
great performances. It is hard to pick a favorite, because everybody gave his/her 100% – including the percussionist sitting in the corner without a spotlight on him. But I cannot resist – I have to say that I absolutely loved the bird – the actor brought the bird to life, in looks and behaviour. My other favorite characters were Hidimbi, Ghatu and Lakshmana – had he been around, SVR would have joined the chorus of his evergreen song, this time in English, going “ta ding ta ding ta ding ding” 😀
Maya Bazaar, the epic fantasy film, is an adaptation of a popular folk tale, Sasirekha Parinayam, from Mahabharata. It is set during the Pandavas’ exile or Aranya Parva; and hence, features in our blog 😉 The production gives out relevant messages to care about our environment, and needless to say, that’s close to my heart. Yet, I do have a small request to the team – if you can just replace some of the important props in the play with reusables (instead of disposables like paper cups, tissues and straws), your message will become that much more stronger and credible 🙂
There are three more shows in Bangalore – don’t miss them. You can book them on bookmyshow. Sit back and laugh out loud. Get lost in the magic of Maya Bazaar. And, here’s a special shout out to two friends in the production – Poornima Kannan (production and PR) and Anand Rajamani (actor, playing Ghatotkacha).
Behind the scenes of Maya Bazaar. Image credit: BLT
EDIT: The Maya team updated me today that they reuse all the paper cups, straws, tissue papers and every prop, across all the shows. During rehearsals, they bring their own reusable cutlery. Anand, the actor playing Ghatu, says, “Our backstage team cribs if the articles are not found. The tissues are meticulously picked up by co artistes during the run of play. The crushed tissues double up to stuff the bag and make it appear bulky while it remains light. And we printed the script just 8 or 10 copies for individuals who struggle to read off devices.” —- isn’t that super cool?
Kudos, team Maya Bazaar. And thank you for this update – you guys made my day 🙂
“Sugandhi
aranyaparva 
Gadadhar Prem Kumar said,
December 5, 2016 at 12:57 pm
Excellent write-up. Has certainly aroused my desire to go and watch the play ! 🙂
belurs said,
December 5, 2016 at 2:34 pm
Thank you 🙂 I am sure they would love to have you in the audience 😉