HYDERABAD: Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation 2014 drama festival hosted Indian People’s Theatre Association’s (IPTA) Simla Coffee House on the sixth day of the festival.
Simla Coffee House is an hour-and-a-half-long play penned and directed by famous film personality Rakesh Bedi. The imaginary Simla Coffee House is tucked at a far-flung place on the foothill of the hill-station Shimla. The characters are created, christened, designed and portrayed in such a manner that they look so real that the audience would also feel involved - some melodramatic effect, at some stage as the story progresses.
A coffee house is managed by a waiter called Satish Kashyap, Anupchander comes to this place often to write his novels. He has been writing a series titled “Tere Chhall” which is extremely popular. Rahul Verma, an ardent fan of the writer, confronts him at the coffee house, as he does not agree with certain points in the series. The conversation starts at a very cordial note but later takes violent proportions. The waiter also intrudes during the conflict and becomes an integral part of the drama. The play has psycho-comic moments and tries to depict how society and literature are counter images of each other.
Apart from Rakesh Bedi himself, others who are part of the cast include Asif Sheikh, Avtar Gill, Nivedita Baunthiyal, and S M Zaheer.