Hamlet: the play by Rajat Kapoor

It was not with much expectations that I went to the Fine Arts Hall, Kochi with 2 colleagues of mine to take a dekho at Rajat Kapoor's play (Dil Chahta Hai fame) "Hamlet" in English and Gibberish. But I came out laughing and I kept laughing at the jokes for the next 3 days. I was narrating the jokes to everyone I met for the next 3 days and kept on laughing with them.

Who would have thought that the biggest Shakespearean tragedy could be turned into a rib tickling comedy, that too of the below the belt kind, by an Indian stage person? Rajat Kapoor does the unthinkable and he does it in style without compromising on the characteristics of any of his lead players- thus, Hamlet is his undecided, spineless self; Ophelia dies professing her love for Hamlet; Gertrude is Hamlet's mother who cheats on his father and Cladius is the scheming uncle who takes over the throne from King Hamlet and plots to get Prince Hamlet too killed.

The best thing in the play is the Gibberish and also the immediate connection that the actors establish with the audience. They even bring references to Kochi, Kerala, Fine Arts Hall, the food and the traffic into their dialogues and make sure they don't slip or move away from the main plot at any point of time. With its English and Gibberish dialogues, this one is more of a talkathlon for each of its actors who have the audience in splits everytime they utter a dialogue.

This is good time pass and a very good way of spreading awareness about a timeless classic which no one will otherwise bother to read or listen to. Even the bard will smile in his grave in appreciation of Kapoor's talent...