Is there anything good about a bad relationship?

The Times of India group’s “Times Chennai Festival” recently staged “Anything but Love” at Venkatasubba Rao auditorium. This play explored the funny bone and the complexities of marriage. A side-splitting comedy, the brilliant acting by Mandira Bedi and Sameer Soni, kept the audience enthralled for two hours.

The plot unfolds, as Aneesh and Seema meet after five years of their divorce, and discover they still nurture feelings for each other. Obviously, there are some good things about a relationship gone sour! While Seema has remarried and Aneesh makes no bones about his PYT (pretty young thing) conquests, they are both willing to kindle the embers of their dead marriage. What follows is a hilarious comedy, as they try to set right all that went wrong in their marriage.

Aneesh is the typical male: egoistic, jealous and possessive, while he likes to think of himself as a perfectly logical human being. Seema on the other hand is the perfectionist, who can’t help analyzing every inconsequential situation in life, including their lovemaking! At the same time, she is emotional and insecure. The play is a study of human relationships, delving into human frailties and emotions creating comically funny situations in a marriage. Both Aneesh and Seema are seeing psychiatrists in order to come to terms with their divorce. The director deserves a pat on the back for all the believable scenes where the actors talk to an invisible shrink.

The performances were vibrant and flawless, and indeed commendable, considering only two actors shouldered this dialogue-oriented play that stretched over two hours. The humour was raunchy and tongue in cheek, the interludes were flooded with an appropriate choice of numbers, while the sets remained constant as the spotlight shifted focus periodically.

Produced by Vikranth Pawar and directed by Raell Padamsee, “Anything but Love” flowed smooth as silk, without a dull moment. Most people in the audience would have identified with the play and the everyday situations one encounters in a marriage. Thank you Times of India! We look forward to more such constructive theatre in Chennai!