Watched a Hindi play by Nadira Babbar, 'Ji,
jaise aap ki marzi', staged by a local NJ group "Theatrix". A story of all the
inequalities and inequities suffered by Indian women... All seven actresses did
a great job - although all but one were Marathi, they all showed excellent
Urdu, Punjabi-style and regular Hindi diction. The diction was important, because
a lot was conveyed thru the very intense dialogues, rather than actual enactments.
There were no set 'roles'. Any one, or at times all, were reading lines for the
same character, some seemed to be standing in for the thoughts rather than
verbal expressions. Similarly, the same costume of white salwar-kurta for all,
with only different colored chunni's (which were used in various ways to
amplify the role being played) was quite imaginative. It was as if no matter who
was speaking the female lines, she was speaking for the role of ‘a woman’. Particularly
effective was the use of groups not in the active dialogues portion for current
scene...The most impressive being the effect created to show the fetus in a
womb. The movements were flawless, with characters blending into the group and
out of them easily. Other than three levels, there were no ‘sets’ at all –
an absence was never once felt. Overall, a very impressive performance!
As
for the script, I couldnt help but think, it felt a little like looking at a
black-and-white photo of a multi-color Holi celebration of life - where the
stronger colors all appear only as black. Life is more complex than black and
white. Now, is that the 'man' in me thinking... is that the sophisticated urbanite
in me doubting existence of such black… in parts of the worlds that I dont know much about... is that both....
Well,
the play makes you think for sure! A modest success right there!!
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