It is easy to see through Me, Kash and Cruise, Rahul Da Cunha’s latest offering on friendship and the city. He has found a very comfortable nook between what is loosely defined as commercial and experimental theatre. The plot, even when touching on serious issues, charts a convenient course-it is careful not to shake up its audience too much and takes good care of their laughs through its myriad turns. It is snappy and moves on before the heat on any one issue-personal or political –could begin to scathe. The narrative is simple, linear and almost predictable. But all the manipulation in craft is made up for in the honesty of the story. And when someone is telling a tale that moves even those who are trying to ‘see through’, you ought to let yourself go with flow. For all its candied exterior, the story is surprisingly matured. There are always discords amongst da Cunha’s characters but never before has he had his hand on the nerve so precisely. Even when the plot runs through bits of separation and reunion hurriedly, it is easy to believe in this story of three friends over the years. And through them the story of their city and its theatre. He is secure enough not to have to plug in an “extraordinary situation”(think murder or accident) to create drama. The drama flows naturally from the reactions of his characters to their surroundings, and what is better, so does the humour. The characters are not complex, but they are so real, you will be sure you really know them. His grasp of the subject is betrayed by delicate insights that will strike a chord, especially if you understand the world he so strongly feels for. The play happens on different levels, literally even if not metaphorically, and has a good enough sense of aesthetic. Its greatest prize however is the casting. Neil Bhoopalam, Amit Mistry and Yamini Namjoshi are not just well cast, they are totally up to the task of living these characters on stage. Simple is often hard to do-especially when there is a risk of getting caught up with ‘defining’ mannerisms. But unlike “Class of ‘84’ the protagonists here aren’t caricatures. They are wonderfully natural, packing in many a gentle punch. Rajit Kapur in his various turns as assorted characters that represent the city is all mannerisms in comparisons, but his hilarious timing and caliber is convincing of the fact that despite all the critical acclaim in his career, he is still an underrated actor. He has done ‘internal’ and ‘intense subtlety’ kind of roles, and now he is doing comedy of manners, just as slickly. The play propounds no new way of looking at human crisis, nor any great psychological or anthropological insight. It does not (fortunately) try to give a ‘message of harmony’,. But it is likely to make you feel less burdened at least momentarily and a lot more accepting of this city and your situation. All the better for it, for perhaps the only thing better than a work of art that makes you ponder, is one that feels like a great leisurely conversation with a very good friend. For that is truly rare in this city.

Rage theatre company’s latest production, directed by Rahul da Cunha may not exactly be an autobiographical piece of theatre but it is undoubtedly driven by the theme of friendship and the big and little dramas enfolding from there on. It’s a theme that Rahul da Cunha in his playwright’s role seems to identify with the most. At least of late. Think CLASS OF 84’, PUNE HIGHWAY and now ME, KASH & CRUISE. 
 The play revolves around three friends, their relationship with each other since their college days and of their reflections and memories of Bombay. But while the play has a slick direction and an eye for character nuances and idiyosyncracies, its take is simplistic; its end result way too convenient. But once you overlook the facile nature of the text you are treated to college yuppiness, the average conversation that is typical of the urban, middle and upper classes in the city, spontaneous humour and some very fine performances, which include Rajit Kapur’s superbly performed cameos. The ‘Me’ in the play is Pooja Thomas (Yamini Namjoshi) whose narrative is interspersed with scenes that move from college theatre rehearsals to coming to grips with Bombay that somewhere along the way lost its soul to Mumbai. Her journey is intertwined with that of her two closest friends- Rakesh Kashyap, nicknamed Kash (Neil Bhoopalam) and Parvez Khan, nicknamed Cruise (Amit Mistry). It is their individual personalities that make their characters identifiable and in places, hugely entertaining. When Cruise, the Delhiite does his version of the ‘Spanish-Bhangra’ or when Rajit Kapur takes on the role of a marketing executive of an event management company, you know that Rahul da Cunha has the pulse of his audience firmly in his hands. The trio- Pooja, Kash & Cruise thus relive their years from the mid-eighties to the present; their relationship taking crucial turns in instances such as when Kash wanders off in pursuit of an inner discovery or when Pooja and Cruise stop living together. Their paths converge and diverge at different times but the two things that bring them together are theatre and the love-hate relationship that they have come to have with the city. 

 Mahesh Tinaikar’s sound design peppers the production with Western and Indian popular numbers, reminiscent of the the eighties and the nineties and which span over to the present day. These serve to underline the collective nostalgia of a certain generation. The set by Xheight design has an experimental functionality to it but does not particularly enhance the production. Pushan Kripalani and Arghya Lahiri’s light design is efficient enough though. The sum of the performances from the four actors in the production is quite good too. Neil Bhoopalam’s KASH subtly captures the South Bombay boy with a Western sensibility. Amit Mistry’s Cruise on the other hand serves as a successful foil to Kash’s personality.
You will come away enjoying the histrionics and there is a poignant moment when Pooja recalls the 1992 riots and blasts, which did change the social make-up of Bombay considerably. But while the city is constantly in the foreground it does not lead to any real engaging of the mind beyond what is known and often repeated. In many a way this is a romantization of its own kind even as Cruise admonishes Pooja by reminding her of real lives out there, which daily battle suburban bound trains. There is creative and clever packaging behind it, which is in evidence right from the program design of the play and down to its smooth and quick pace. Yet the journey is worth it. Rahul’s plays seemed to have found their niche between theatre that is frowned upon as not relating to the masses and that theatre, which is dismissed as catering to the masses and which in all truth is often banal. This in-between space can have its own strengths and weaknesses. But Rage has certainly mastered the art of maximizing on the former in its productions.