Venue: India Habitat Centre
Date: 26 December 2015

To celebrate the 100th birth centenary of the famous Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai, Millennium Foundation staged a play on her story Gharwali. Directed by Shuddho Banerjee, the play, questions the relevance of marriage. And to some extent monogamy as well.

The protagonist Lajjo is a free bird. She had a past and instead of cribbing about it, she celebrates every moment of her life, she sleeps with different men without any guilt and uses her raw sexuality to lure men to get money and/or favours. After she is sold to Mirza-a relatively decent man, she starts living with him, taking care of his physical and other needs. The problem arises when Mirza asks her to marry him. But who can pin a cloud like Lajjo? She feels stifled as a wife in the very house where she used to live freely as a mistress.

The story is relevant in every day and age and puts across a very legit point – Is marriage for everybody? Maybe not… Some relationships are better left open.

The first half of the play feels like a 60’s Hindi film but it takes a U-turn in the second half and makes the audience stay till the end. The actors are mostly fresh but the storyline, direction, songs and dances compensate for their lack of experience. The fact that the play ends on a happy note makes it a worthy Saturday watch.