A new genre of cinema

The poster of play “Between The Lines” was deceptive. The profiles of actors Nandita Das and Subodh Maskara gazed at one, complete with a laudatory message by Amitabh Bachchan. One was all set for a brilliant play. In fact it turned out to be a cine-play, described as a “new genre of cinema”.

The cine-play, the story of a much-in-love lawyer couple, was intriguing. Finding themselves at the opposite ends of a criminal trial case involving an oppressive man and his brutalised wife who supposedly shot her husband in cold blood, the lawyers become estranged as their personal and professional lives began to impact each other.

The cine-play is now all set to travel to other cities.

As CinePlay, the organisers of “Between the Lines” explain, a cine-play is a 'new genre of cinema that presents stories from theatre'. To be widely viewed, a conventional play involves complicated logistics and economics, while it needs to overcome geographical and linguistic barriers. In contrast, a cine-play archives well known plays, bringing future generations of viewers closer to a new language of storytelling.

In the bargain, the theatre community benefits as they get wider exposure. The organiser shares its revenue with the theatre production of each cine-play. Further, CinePlay's revenues are fuelled to the community to spawn more productions — both performances and cine-plays. So it is a win-win situation for both CinePlay and theatre professionals.

At first glance, a cine-play is a mere live recording of a play, but it is in fact shot with sets created especially for each cine-play. They are helped along with fine cinematic values like superb camera, light and production set ups.

Among CinePlay's productions are “Bombay Talkies”, “Dance Like a Man”, “Sometimes”, “Adhe Adhure”, “Hasmukh Saab Ki Wasihat” and “The Job”.

Clearly this is just the beginning for cine plays. For a first-hand experience of this innovative genre, just log on to www.cineplay.com