Alone in a small world..

Few years back a pilot saw a man struggling in ice in Greenland and saved his life by picking him up. He was arrested immediately after landing. The person was Hamidur Rahman, a Bangladeshi engineer, who was trying to walk 200 kilometers, to Canada, in subzero temperature, with just a stove and wet matches to keep himself warm. 

The documentary play, "A Small, Small World", tells the tragic tale of Hamidur Rahman collected and edited from interviews, videos, letters and snippets of talks from people associated from various phases of his life. The format of the play is very interesting and unique. Two actors enact different scenes from the life of Hamid, like chameleons going under the skins of characters from around the world. A  miniature set is kept at a corner of the stage and via a cam the images are projected life size on the white screen. The actors introduce themselves with their names and as Suthradhar in Sanskrit plays, narrates the story through the eyes of different people. They even interact with the audience. A personal feel is given when audience are made to sit close to the stage, instead of the distant galleries. 

The play is enacted by two wonderful actors, a German and an Indian. Konradin Kunze and Abhishek Majumdar. (Alka, your good friend :). And I should say he is amazing! Nothing short of amazing! Loved him in that interrogation scene where he sits on chair as Hamid and Kunze slowly zooms the camera towards his face and slowly into the eyes, and then the screen is filled with fear and angst from the mind of the illegal immigrant. No words!) 

The google earth scenes where also very effective. Abhishek stands near the screen and Kunze, projects the map of the country where Hamid is next heading to with the help of Camera and a small globe, just the size of a tennis ball. The zooming effect of Google Earth is replicated on screen. But the master stroke comes in climax when all of a sudden a real clip from Hamid's life, one that we saw just a few moments back is played and the effect on viewer's mind is just catastrophic. 

Hamid moves from Bangladesh to Malaysia, to Germany, to Denmark, Greenland and just fails to reach Canada, all in search of a place to live. The play uncovers the struggle of a common man on a time of globe trotting, for his basic right of a place to live his life. Hamid consumes antidepressants and succumbs to death, but the unanswered questions he left on our face is just haunting....