By Wellington Dias.
Jose Rod under the Rekha Productions banner together with his troupe of stage artistes from Goa, Kuwait, Bahrain & Qatar held the premiere of his new non-stop Konkanni drama "TUJEM NAUM VHODD ZAUM" on 15th September, 2000 at the Keifan hall in Kuwait.
Given the contribution by Jacint Vaz, Rosario Rodrigues, M. Boyer and others to the Konkanni stage, highlighting these stalwarts's work including imitating them in their actions, etc. by the current generation of stars could be termed as an ultimate tribute to their heroes.
So with the auditorium in pitch darkness and with a spotlight centred on Comedian DOMNIC (looking a replica of Jacint Vaz), commenced the opening chorus and during its course the spotlight was centred separately on Josephine's & Mario's wedding & their Baby's christening (a year later) with Comedian Ben as the compere and Comedians Philip and Luis Dias respectively, imitating Rosario Rodrigues and M. Boyer perfectly in attire, actions, as well as vocals.
The drama was presented in a kind of unique manner, i.e. la movie style (with its titles artistes' names, credits, etc.), on a giant projection screen with graphics, live clippings, et all by Jose Rod together with his team (of graphics designers, videographers) of T-Bush, Tony, Olavo & others.
MUSIC :-
Planning something innovative, Jose Rod had the music for his full drama composed, pre-recorded & played on a Synthesizer instead of being played by a live band with Music Maestro "SHAHU" (one of Rosario Rodrigues's ex-music directors) handling the same single handedly & efficiently.
SONGS :
As no drama can be complete without songs, a number of them based on themes of romance, social messages, tragedy, humor, etc. were sung during the drama's course.
ROSEFERNS, QUEROBIN, MICHAEL CARVALHO, LUIS DIAS rendered their respective solos while Comedian Philip took a dig at the football players at Kuwait's Al-Sour football ground with his humourous solo.
JUNIOR ROD, Son of the famed late Minguel Rod sang one solo, a duo and a duet with JOSEPHINE DIAS from Goa.
The evergreen Bahrain based BAB PETER, rendered a duet with the gorgeous and ebullient VALANKA. While with the talented 8-year old BABLOO (Engelbert Rodrigues from Bahrain), he sang a medley of Hindi & Konkanni songs including Goa's ever favourite 'Undra Mojea Mama'.
The trio of PATRICK, DONALD & MARIO from Kuwait in sentimental tones highlighted the travails of a Goan lady at the hands of her family in Goa and the kind gesture of her ex-employer in Kuwait.
Comedian BEN EVANGELISTO complete with REMO FERNANDES's hairdo, scats, dress sense & vocals received a ovation for the Konkanni version of REMO's "O Meri Munni",
JOSE ROD in touching tones together with video clippings of the airplane wreckage sang about the recent Gulf-Air crash in the Arabian Gulf off Bahrain.
HUMOR :
In the first session the duo of Mario Fernandes & Luis Dias brought out laughs from the audience as two brothers trying to divide the spoils of a parcel & draft sent to them by their father in the Gulf.
While during the second session :-
Comedian BEN (as Paddzin who had settled in Bardez & now after 2-decades returns to his ancestral home in Salcette ) conversing in the Bardez dialect of Konkanni and insisting that Konkanni be spoken exactly as done in Bardez raises the ire of Comedian DOMNICK (the other Brother, Naddzin, who resides in Salcette), who with his tendency to speak English sentences with their meanings translated exactly from Konkanni to English and with PHILIP (Naddzin's Son) getting caught in the crossfire of both Brothers' rivalry and Philip together with JOSEPHINE (as College Professor Ritin) and Comedian LUIS chipping in with their bits, sent the audience into raptures of laughter.
The DRAMA :
During the first session the story centres around the Fernandes's household & the elderly Anton Bab (PATRICK Fernandes, playing the role of a basket weaver), who toils hard to make ends meet inspite of having a Son Andrew (DONALD Colaco), who, at first is responsible for wrecking his career in football & later his marriage by hitting the bottle so much so that his Wife Simone (ANTONETTE De Calangute) is forced to go to the Gulf to give a better life for their infant Son. After her return when Simone admits to having an extra marital affair while in the Gulf, the couple file for divorce with the husband getting custody of the infant. Andrew realizing the responsibility of bringing up an infant decides to give up drinks, applies for a job of a football coach, gets accepted but subject to his providing a medical fitness certificate, which forms the criteria for his acceptance, but fails to obtain one due to being afflicted by a severe liver problem and when he is advised by his Doctor (Laurente) that his chances for survival are nil, Andrew in the best interests of his Son, hands over the infant to Simone for upbringing.
Meantime, the elderly Anton Bab (Patrick) unable to bear the grief of his Grandson being taken away from his household suffers a fatal stroke and with his final dying breath wishes his Grandson "Tujem Naum Vhodd Zaum" and with this the first session came to a close.
During the second Session, years later, the drama revolves mostly around the Faleiro household with Simone (Antonette) having married her paramour JOE (ROSEFERNS) leading a blissful life with her second hubby and Son Jills (JOSE ROD, who's still in the dark as to his real father's identity).
Jills together with his friends Reeve (Bab Peter) and Philips (Comedian Philip) are into their twelth Standard and Jills especially studies with the right earnest so as to attain the required percentage and obtain a seat in Goa Medical College and fulfill his life long dream of becoming a Doctor. Samuel Carvalho as Reeve's Father makes a few brief entries.
But declaration of exam results throws the harmonized existence of the Faleiro household into turmoil as Jills attains less percentage thereby jeopardizing his chances of getting a seat in Goa Medical College and in desperation takes to drinking.
Meanwhile Andrew (Donald, who has by now recovered from his ailment) seeing the state that Jills gets himself into by drinking, queries the reason for Jills' drinking and tries to convince about the folly of his ways and when he keeps stalking Jills, Jills demands to know from Andrew why he is he is so interested in his (Jills's) well being.
Not being able to see Jills suffering, Andrew finally admits to being Jills's real father and advises his Son that he can get a seat for him in the Medical College provided Jills and his Parents fulfill a certain conditon.
Joe (Roseferns) also being unable to see Jills suffer, withdraws all his savings and even goes to the extent of motgaging his house so Jills can pay the required capitation fees & join a medical college outside Goa.
Jills approaches his Mother & foster Father demands to know who his real Father is and also demands of them what Andrew requires so that he can obtaina seat in the Medical College.
High drama follows when the Faleiros hear of Jills' demand but Joe in Jills' best interests finally relents and does as required and as Jills is ready to leave the Faleiro's household, the end takes a different twist with Andrew admitting about the ulterior motive behind his demand (made through Jills) with Jills overhearing the same.
The drama winds up with Joe & Simone wishing their Son Jills, "Tujem Naum Vhodd Zaum", meaning to say that, as they, from his childhood & till date always wanted what was best for him in future also they wanted the very best for him.
Without singling out individual performances which were outstanding all the cast did justice to their roles and working as a cohesive unit together with the people behind the scenes contributing their bit, the drama is worth a see and must have provided a complete entertainment package to the audience.
PRESENTATION :
Jose Rod presented :-
JUNIOR ROD's new album "PALKACHI PANCH NEKATRAM"
Comedian BEN EVANGELISTO's latest album "BONDDO", released on 10th Sept., 2000 in Kuwait on Ben's B'day by Jose Rod.
QUEROBIN's first album entitled "DINVAS".
FELICITATION :
Roseferns presented a plaque to JOSEPHINE DIAS (on behalf of his Director) for her yeomen service to the Konkanni stage as after a illustrious acting career spanning many years, She has decided to finally call it a day and give up acting after the last show of "Tujem Naum Vhodd Zaum" scheduled shortly in the Emirate of Dubai.
Jose Rod appreciated Music Maestro Shahu for his good work and also thanked everyone else for their support to him.
Wellington Dias.
wellydias@hotmail.com
