Tiatr ‘Moga Mhaka Moguch Puro’ written by Fr Milton Rodrigues, directed by Shantaram Pawar and presented by Fr Agnel College of Arts and Commerce, Pilar was staged at Kala Academy on the fifth day of Tiatr Academy of Goa 4th Inter Collegiate/HSS Tiatr Competition 2024-25.
The curtains unfold to a college campus scene wherein Newton (Schubert Borges), Sam (Karol Fernandes) and Shaina (Sania Gracias) are chatting and awaiting their friend Natasha (Avila Pereira). Natasha arrives with her father Mr D’Souza (Steve Fernandes), who objects to his daughter’s involvement with Newton. Natasha is caught between the devil and the deep sea, unable to make a choice. Finally, Mr D’Souza walks away with his daughter.
The story revolves around Romeo (Mark Afonso), his spouse Juliet (Alloysea Fernandes), their two sons Newton and Sam and only daughter Stacy (Belisia Dias do Rosario), who is married. Finally, Newton ties the knot with Natasha and Sam unites with Shaina.
With the entry of two daughters-in-law in the family, Juliet wishes to have an upper hand on the new entrants, while Romeo is sober and supports Natasha and Shaina. Sam and Shaina focus only on the materialistic world, while Newton and Natasha plan to build a family on a strong foundation. Unfortunately, Newton and Natasha encounter a mishap and the former is grievously injured. But Natasha vows to take care of her husband and stand by him in good and bad times.
While Juliet considers Natasha as a bad omen, Natasha’s father makes a courtesy visit and asks his daughter to return home instead of putting up with a handicap husband. While Mr D’Souza plans to get his daughter married to a boy from the UK, Natasha declines his offer.
Meanwhile, Juliet’s daughter, Stacy returns home dejected, after a breakup with her husband. On Shaina’s birthday, she receives ample gifts from male friends, making Sam realize that his wife is flirting with many boys. One of her close friends Shaun (Shaun Pegado) also drops in with a gift, leaving Natasha perplexed. What follows next is worth the watch during the second half of the drama.
Tiatr ‘Moga Mhaka Moguch Puro’ is a family melodrama focusing on true love, betrayal, infidelity in married life and various other shades of life. It also carries a small dose of suspense in the concluding scene of the first half and unveiling various facts in the second half. The artistes have given a fine performance on stage with Mark, Alloysea, Schubert, Karol, Sania, Avila, Belisia in the main acts and Steve, Stacy, Shaun, Mario Pereira and Maisie de Souza in supporting characters.
Comedy was within the play and Delma Fernandes, Joven Fernandes and Maxcio Pinho came together with laughter pills under their sleeves, though overacting was noted.
In the category of renditions, there were a couple of songs in the form of solos, duo, choral to be enjoyed, but the songs’ department fell weak. Roy Menezes and his musical team extended good support to the singers on stage. The stage sets by Kiran Barve and execution of lights by Sahil Bandodkar were good.