The independence of a country is never
easily won. It takes men of commitment, daring, strong ideals and breadth of
vision to galvanise a nation and throw the intruder out. This actually happened
in
Fifty-three years on and nationalism is a forgotten emotion. And no wonder, for we have become a nation riddled with greed, pettiness and hypocrisy; with scant respect for law-and-order, discipline or decency; aping the worst of the West and paying mere lip-service to our own heritage.
"It Happens only in India" is the English version of Shafaat Khan's Marathi play, "Shobha Yatra", a scathing expose of what we have become vis-a-vis what our founding-fathers fought and died for.
The play drives its point home by way of an ingenious juxtaposition. Six people, each dressed-up as a character from India's freedom-struggle, are about to take part in a ceremonial procession commemorating fifty years of Independence; ironically, organised by an underworld don or "Bhai". The procession keeps getting delayed; and the group waits in a godown, unable to leave as they are in costume, "trapped in history".
As they wait, they reveal their own natures, superficially similar to those of the historical personages they are portraying; but, in actuality, diametrically opposing their idealism and all that they stood for. Each "actor" is linked, overtly or covertly, to the unseen, sinister figure of the Bhai who is pulling their strings --- all except the woman playing the Rani of Jhansi, a school-teacher who could be pregnant. She becomes a symbol for the Motherland, threatened with annihilation.
Shafaat Khan's play draws from many genres --- comedy, satire, thriller and Theatre of the Absurd, combining all these in a multi-layered and richly provocative tapestry of truth and make-believe, historical reference and present-day reality, masks and faces, wheels within wheels.
The original Marathi production, directed by Ganesh Yadav, tears into the script and goes for the jugular in a manner that keeps one at seat's edge. Actors enter and exit at will, seemingly without reason; the production revels in real and hallucinatory images of terror and violence, all highlighting the play's Absurdist leanings.
Vikram Kapadia's production is quite different. It is based on Shanta Gokhale's English translation, which flows naturally and is easy on the ear. The director has preferred to retain Hindi in certain passages. One wishes he had also encouraged the actors to use Marathi interjections. With names like Bapat, Jadhav and Sabnis, it is surprising that these characters never communicate in their mother-tongue, however fleetingly.
This production is, in a word, tame. Gone is the wildness, the headlong pace, the feeling of unpredictability. Moreover the play has been cut, most damagingly in the scenes involving the school-teacher/Rani. Scenes have been transposed and shuffled at will, severely compromising the building of tension. This re-arrangement often puts similar episodes back-to-back with "buffers" removed, making the play seem repetitious and long-winded.
Initially, one welcomes the relaxed pace, the ability to drink-in detail. But the tempo-rhythm hardly ever accelerates; there are far too many pauses and delays in actors' responses, pointing to insufficient rehearsal and the fact that the cast for any given show depends on who is available on that day, as each role has been double-cast.
Having seen both, the Marathi and English productions, each twice, one becomes aware that the latter lacks the cohesion and confident drive of an unvarying team in sync with each other.
Even though the actors in the English production seem somewhat tentative, they generally turn-in committed, professional performances, some better than others; Hemu Adhikari's Bapat/Gandhi and Suruchi Aulakh's Barbie being particularly memorable. However, nobody eclipses the sheer incandescence of Vidula Mungekar's school-teacher/Rani in the Marathi version.
The sets and lighting seem somewhat self-conscious. The fastidious harmony suits the English production's sedate tone; but is a far cry from the heady combination of hyper-realistic set and vividly imaginative lighting in the Marathi production.
For those who do not understand Marathi,
"It Happens Only in
The importance of "Shobha Yatra" can never be over-estimated. In the derivative world of contemporary Indian theatre, it is a work of rare originality. Its path-breaking style and raw, pithy substance make it one of the great plays of our time.
