Picture Credit: metawards.com
Venue: American Centre

Mahindra Excellence Theatre Festival 2019 is on in full swing. META is a competition and we had watched one of contenders, “Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan” at American Centre a while back. This play is directed by Dhwani Vij and is produced by Aagaz Theatre Trust, New Delhi.

The actors are four teenage girls with no starry air. But the moment they take stage, it is like magic. They are transformed into protagonists. They speak loud and clear in Hindi and each girl starts off with glimpses of their daily life in Nizamuddin Basti. As part of the audience we wonder what is happening. But in a while, the girls move into more complex space. Each one narrates incidents from her life that speaks volumes about gender issues.  None of them are raped, killed or tortured. And yet we get to see how sexuality creeps into manipulating the lives of these young girls. The script is in first person. Towards the end; the actors invite the audience up on stage to demonstrate all those areas in their neighborhood that are beyond access to them just because they are girls.

It is a crisp piece that is done within an hour. The plot unveils in the most interesting manner. Towards the end, we ask for more. But the real power of the production has to be the actors. It is difficult to distinguish between the girls and the roles they play – they are so integrated to the act. All of them cooperate with neither outshining the other. One of them could be boisterous, the other a little shy, as nature made all of us. They provide subtle yet powerful performances so much so that we are still thinking about the mirror this production is holding to the society.

“Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan” is a must watch.