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* G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
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Sangath, www.sangath.com, is looking to build a centre for services, training 
and research and seeks to buy approx 1500 to 2000 sq mtrs land betweeen Mapusa 
and Bambolim and surrounding rural areas. Please contact: contac...@sangath.com 
or yvo...@sangath.com or ph+91-9881499458
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-July/180028.html

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Fausto's FUTT: Vintage Wine!

Review of Fausto V. Da Costa's award-winning Konknni play, Futt (the crack), in 
audio CD and book-form.

By: Walter Menezes


A week ago, I came across a collector's item(s): the audio CD and the book in 
Romi 
script of Fausto V. Da Costa's award-winning Konknni play, Futt (the crack).

The play immediately took me down memory lane. Some twenty-five summers ago, 
when 
one had to 'book' a Bajaj scooter and then wait for ages for your turn to come, 
the 
public transport was the best way to travel, especially the mini-buses, famous 
then 
as they are now, for the music that they played to make the journey 
comfortable. 
Futt, I still remember, was quite a hit those days and I must admit that I must 
have 
heard the play a number of times as I commuted to work from Kepem to Sanguem, a 
15 
km stretch with a long break at Curchorem, the mini-bus staying put till 
another one 
literally pushed it from behind!


The audio CD together with the book makes an excellent combination. A one-act 
play 
in the beginning, Futt was later developed into a full-fledged tiatr and staged 
for 
the first time at Patkar Hall in Mumbai in aid of Novem Goem, the Konknni daily 
in 
Romi script. Besides Mumbai, this tiatr was also staged in Goa and Pune and by 
the 
time Futt was nearing the 'fifty-shows' milestone, Faust-bab decided to release 
the 
audio cassette of the same. Incidentally, Futt received the 'Man of the Year 
Award' 
in 1983, instituted by Murli Deora, then President of BRCC(I).

Not many would know that Fausto V. Da Costa, the editor of Gulab, Goa's popular 
Konknni monthly magazine in Romi script and The Goan Review, a bi-monthly 
Konknni-English family magazine, was once a professional tiatr 'prompter'. 
Those 
were the days when the 'prompter' was much sought-after, coming as he did to 
the 
'rescue' of many a singer and actor on stage. This experience, as also that of 
acting in a few dramas, held him in good stead. Faust-bab sure knows how to 
weave a 
story and keep the listener / reader glued to his seat.

Futt is the story of Hasten who leaves behind the wealth and riches of his 
father 
and marries Brenda, daughter of a carpenter and love of his heart. Ten years 
later 
when Hasten meets with an accident and is bed-ridden and Brenda goes to work to 
keep 
the fires burning, there is another fire which engulfs Hasten: he begins to 
doubt 
his wife!

The story takes another twist when Lovina, Hasten's secretary, ensnares him. 
Marriage is on the rocks and there comes that moment when Hasten must now 
decide. 
Will he divorce his wife for Lovina or will love emerge victorious once again, 
through the rough and tumble of life? For answers, you will have to either 
listen to 
the CD or read the book in tiatr-form.

The dialogues have been carefully scripted. Sample this one when Hasten tells 
Brenda, "Mhojea papache polasint diamanti asat tachea von ek vorti diamant hea 
tumchea gorib ghorant asa ani dekhununch hanv sogllem soddun hanga ailam." 
(There is 
this diamond in your humble home which is more precious than all the diamonds 
in my 
father's palace and that is why I have left everything to come here.)

The cast of Wilson Mazarello (Hasten), Sharon Mazarello (Lovina) and others 
like 
Xavier Agapito, Bab Peter and Fausto Da Costa have put up a superb performance. 
But 
it is Deodita Da Costa as Brenda who really makes a difference. Her voice and 
the 
intensity with which she sings some of the cantos (story-related songs between 
acts), set to music by Babush, makes your heart skip a beat! Not to be missed 
is 
Zatam Fugar and Noxibak Roddtam.

We have not seen many tiatrists in recent times putting their scripts in 
book-form 
but with the establishment of Tiatr Akademi and a well-known tiatrist like the 
former speaker of Goa Assembly, Tomazinho Cardozo heading the institution, one 
hopes 
that others will soon follow Faust-bab's footsteps.

And to Fausto V. Da Costa, all I can say is this: On(c)e more! On(c)e more!!

The book:
FUTT
Author and Publisher: Fausto V. Da Costa
Pages: 64
Price: Rs. 30/-

The Audio CD:
FUTT
Story, Dialogues, Lyrics: Fausto V. Da Costa
Music: Babush
Produced by: Dinfa Productions, Mumbai
Price: Rs. 150/-

Available at: (Book) / Goa Konknni Akademi, Panaji, Zito's, Margao and other 
outlets. (CD) / Manfa Music, Margao, Goa.

Fausto V. Da Costa can be contact at fau...@vsnl.net

[This review has been published in the Gomantak Times and the writer,
Walter Menezes, can be contacted at walter_mene...@yahoo.com]

http://waltermenezes.blogspot.com/ 


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