Purtugez Goenkar

GOENKARS WAKE UP!

By Daniel F de Souza

PATRICK DOURADO’S tiatr ‘Purtugez Goenkar’ produced by Samuel Carvalho is presently having a good run with house-full shows. The writer Patrick Dourado has touched on a contemporary topic prevalent in Goan society. The name ‘Purtugez Goenkar’ itself is suggestive and gives one a faint idea what to expect and see in the play. It is a story of those Goans who are now lured by the British Pounds and acquire Portuguese Nationality to head to the West for greener pastures. But then what is the fate of their families and ancestral homes and properties back home in Goa is best seen in ‘Purtugez Goenkar’. For more reasons than one, ‘Purtugez Goenkar’ depicts what’s in store for Goa and Goans in the long run if the present trend of expatriation continues.

‘Purtuguez Goenkar’ is a story of a poor widow. Eliza Carvalho(Betty Naz) who is forced to sell her land to a Gujarati Patel Bhai so that she can pay a huge sum to the recruiting agent to send her son George (Franklin) to the Gulf. Caitan (Samuel Carvalho) a village drunkard acts as the middleman and convinces Eliza to part with her prime property to this non-Goan businessman. George returns back to Goa after spending only a year in the Gulf and acquires a Portuguese Passport and proceeds to London. In the meantime Patel Bhai who is a shrewd businessman builds a huge mansion next door to Eliza. He prospers in his business venture too.


THE FAMOUS THREE: Taking the Goan political to task.
Eliza’s second son Jack (Ulhas Tari ) an engineer by profession is under the spell of his dominating wife Shaina (Roshan) also dreams of making it big someday. Jack is coerced by his domineering wife Shaina into acquiring a Portuguese passport too. Jack, a henpecked husband, has no say in any matter. They leave their ancestral home in Goa and fly to London. The mother and sister Roma are left behind to fend for themselves. The mother is shell shocked, but she has no say whatsoever in the matter. She only hopes that everything will have a happy ending. Now she is left with the support of her daughter Roma back home. Roma is having a romantic affair on the sly with Ashwin (Philip Almeida) Patel Bhai’s only son. Ashwin’s father is against this match and wants to teach Roma a befitting lesson. He seeks the help of Caitan. Evil and bad that he is, Caitan promises to support Patel in his evil designs. Seeing the events that unfold in Carvalho’s household, Patel Bhai nurtures a silent desire and has his eyes set on their property and house.

What happens next and the fate that awaits innocent Roma changes the story line and the fate of the Carvalho household for the rest of their lives. On the other hand things are not so rosy for Shaina and Jack who are now in London. Jack is remorseful and recollects his happy days in Goa, and is not too happy with his job as a petrol pump attendant in London. Fate strikes further when Shaina meets with a tragic end in a bomb explosion. George on the other hand marries a British girl. Meanwhile tragedy strikes back home in Goa, the ending is sad and thought provoking at the same time.

Patrick Dourado has indeed chosen a good subject for his play, however the plot could have been handled with some more emphatic sub-plots to enhance the impact of the play further. The story moves at a slow pace. All the artists in the play have marginally small roles with Betty Naz as Mrs. Carvalho shouldering a much bigger and responsible role. Nevertheless, the play does have a meaningful message relevant to the present tendency among Goans to acquire Portuguese nationality and leave the shores. The writer-director has made extensive use of audio visuals to portray certain scenes which could have otherwise not been possible to depict live on stage. The scenes that have been effectively shown with the help of the audio visual presentation are the explosion at the petrol pump, a suicide attempt by jumping from the bridge, the railway station and the arrival of the train, a discotheque in distant London etc. Though this is nothing new to the Konkani stage, the Director deserves kudos for attempting such a smooth integration of the audiovisuals in the main plot on stage. These lively scenes really hold the attention of the audience.


THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE: Immigrating to the west can prove fatal.
Another novel thing shown by the Director is the opening song, which is sung in style by Anthony San. The song has some meaningful lyrics and outlines the finer aspects of tiatr, right from the stage of it’s conceptualising, script writing, directing, rehearsals, song and band rehearsals etc. The lyrics are well supported by relevant shots of audiovisuals. The show has many renowned singers and so the audience is treated to a large dose of solos, duets, trios. Among the solo singers, Osy Viegas, S. Lemos, Xavier, Succorine render some pleasant solos. The comedy duet by Anthony San and Succorine was also well received. Two more duets by Peter-Roshan though with a good subject didn’t make much impact.

The Trio kings however take the major share of the cake with two excellent trios. Joaquim-Jr. Rod-Anthony sing a touching tribute to the late Fr. Freddy J. da Costa. The trio has some excellent lyrics and was heard with pin drop silence by the house-full audience. They return after the interval to take the stage by storm with another of their political song. The song has been composed based entirely on the lead stories carried by the weekly Goan Observer over the weeks on the Goan political scene. Some of the Goan politicians who were taken to task included Mathany Saldhana, Radharao, Dr. Wilfred De Souza, and IFFI imbroglio too was highlighted duly displaying the respective issue of the paper on a roller-stand.

Patrick has composed some nice ‘kantos’ and it is pleasant to hear Betty Naz rendering most of them in her inimitable style. ‘Purtugez Goenkar’ brings forth some good acting by Konkani stage veterans. The producer Samuel Carvalho excels in the role of the evil man Caitan and depicts the character well. So also Betty Naz is very natural in the mothers’ role and brings the character to life. Anil Kumar is very much realistic in the character role of the Gujarati Patel Bhai, however, his dialogues with the Gujarati accent are a little hard to understand and could have been delivered a little slower. Tari and Franklin have marginally small roles and they give a good account as the two ambitious sons. Roshan and Roma in two opposite roles are also fairly good. Anthony San plays a small but effective role of a doctor and Philip Almeida as Ashwin is quite impressive.

Once again the writer has laid a fair emphasis on the comedy. The comedy trio of Comedian Agostinho, Selvy and Soccorine keep the audience in splits for a fairly long time. The trio is well supported by Antonette. Agostinho and Selvy combine well to bring about good laughter. The stage settings by Saldhana are quite impressive, though nothing new. The stage sets shows the frontal view of Patel Bhai’s bungalow and the side elevation of Mrs. Carvalho’s house. Maestro Juju has provided the musical score for the play ably supported by Agnelo Dias on the Trumpet.