Plays by Mahesh Dattani

Happened to see one yesterday, which was called "Where did I Leave my Purdah?". Earlier, I had read one of his plays called Dance Like a Man. I remember liking that, though the details of it are now hazy.

This one was a powerhouse performance at Nagpur, which by her admission at the end, was Lillete Dubey's first time in the city. Well, I consider myself lucky to have seen her without having to go to Mumbai (I assume she lives there). A great artiste, she did well to direct it marvelously too. Her ability to use different parts of the stage to show flashbacks or a different time period (flash forward) was amazing, and there were actually three stages in one, with different levels, and lighting going on and off to create an 'active' part. Important, because there was no interval. It was a continuous 85 minutes of high-voltage drama with not one moment of boredom.

My way of celebrating Women's Day, maybe. Soni Razdan, whom I liked in the couple of movies she did before she almost disappeared from films, was also there in an important role. It's about a Muslim stage performer (now old, played by Lillete) who migrates from Pakistan during partition to pursue her drama dreams, and is ill-treated (raped) by a mob as she crosses into India, with her husband ( a Hindu converted to a Muslim because he loves her) unable to do anything to prevent it. She holds a grudge, and they separate. She disowns her own child after that trauma, and attributes her to her sister (who is killed in the mob violence on the Pakistan side before crossing into India because she does not wear her burqa and is mistaken for a Hindu). How they resolve the angst is what the play is about. Soni Razdan is her estranged daughter.

The opening scene cracks you up with the old lady inveigling a young asst director on her set into giving her a mouth-to-mouth treatment, and then accusing him of being gay! Crackling dialogue and delivery by her keeps it going, aided by her younger version and her husband indulging in some passionate romance before partition and all else strikes.

There is a stinging social comment that injustice is done by both sides of the border not only to their rivals, but to their own people also, which is the backbone of the play. The story of Shakuntala and Dushyant is used as the background in the entire play.

I was impressed. As a bonus, we also appeared in a press photo in the Times today, as a part of an audience shot!