A snippet of 'Raisins Not Virgins' will be screened at the Fifth Annual IAAC Film Festival : Indian Independent & Diaspora Films on November 6th 2005.
By - Puloma Mukherjee

"Its insanity, people are killing themselves hoping to get laid in heaven while all they might get is an eternity's worth of raisins !!"
- Sahar Salam -Character in Sharbari Ahmed's 'Raisins not Virgins'.

What if your religion is not who you are? What if you think your religion deems your existence as secondary and insignificant? What if you cannot reconcile with the rules your religion stringently advocates, but your surroundings hold you up to those very rules? And worse, what if, inspite of all this, you are identified by this religion that you want to disown ?

- This is the essence of Sahar's angst in Sharbari Ahmed's engaging play 'Raisins not Virgins'.

Sahar, played by Ahmed , is a 29-year-old savvy New Yorker, whose quest for self-discovery and desire to come to terms with her religion that got imposed on to her by lineage, forms the central theme of this topical yet funny and delightful play.

Director Thomas Cote and Ahmed skillfully weave in many elements of sub-continental culture into the play. Amma (Sahar's Mother), played by Anna Itty who delivers what is possibly the most endearing performance I have seen in recent plays, advises Sahar to get married and duly finds her a great-husband-material-since-he-is-a-lawyer type suitor whose connection to the family probably follows the aunt's-cousin's-sisters -nephew route.

Sahar does not take the proposition too well initially, but meets young Rizwan (Nelson Lugo) and eventually gives in to his charms. Sadly, in an unprecedented sequence of events she loses Rizwan to the situation in Palestine and Israel. Disappointed and disheartened, Sahar begins to question her beliefs and faith, and embarks on -I quote "her own Jihad"- and in the process finds a delightful and adorable companion to be by her side (played by Marc Geller) .

The play stands out in its unique and interesting interplay between visuals on a screen and the on-stage performances by the actors. As Cote rightfully points out "The visuals required a lot of hard work, we had to make sure that we were not misdirecting the audiences' attention'. And after seeing the play, I was convinced that there wasn't a better way to candidly portray Sahar and Rizwan's love without the Bollywood Spoof visual, or emphasize the impact of the visual of the little Palestinian boy being sheltered by his father from Israeli bullets.

"The video recording of a helpless young boy getting killed by Israeli soldiers in Palestine on live television left me charred . I wanted to do something about it". Says Sharbari Ahmed, the playwright, who also essays the role of Sahar . Ahmed's next bold and ambitious venture is to produce 'Raisins Not Virgins' the film, to be shot in Jordan and Morocco in June 2006.

A tight script with laughs at all the right places, a talented cast, and most importantly a team of good people with the right intent, 'Raisins ..' has all the elements to make a noteworthy film.

We at EGO wish Sharbari and her team all the very best !

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