Marital Hurdles:
In recent months quite a few Marathi and Gujarati plays have taken a look at the urban Indian marriage, with a non-traditional lens. Om Katare’s new play– the 80th by his group Yatri–Babuji Dheere Chalna, is about the problems of an unfaithful husband.
A few years ago, a man juggling two homes would have made for a very different kind of loud comedy, which has been done and dusted with plays inspired from Ray Cooney’s Run For Your Wife; Katare, thankfully, does not work at that level, but neither does he have the insouciance that would make the play delightfully capricious like a French farce.
In the first two scenes it is established that a middle-aged Arvind (Katare) is having an affair with a younger woman, Tanya (Kajal Sonkar), while married to Kavya (Chinica Madurkar). Because that is the picture already set in the minds of most people, the girlfriend is sexy and demanding; the wife is traditionally dressed and sober.
Arvind has not lied about his marital status to Tanya, and after 20 years of marriage, Kavya senses that something is going on in her husband’s life. The scene is set for a confrontation, when Kavya reveals the presence of a younger male friend, Kabir (Naman Mukherji). It could go into any number of interesting ways, but Katare obviously wants to amuse his audience without shocking them.
He introduces a puckish Antaraatma (conscience), played with energetic mischief by Sahil Ravi, with whom Arvind discusses his dilemma. Whenever Antaraatma pops up on stage, crooning a jaunty ditty, Babuji halke halke, he actually lights up the stage; even though he has a more or less traditional opinion, like Arvind, he just expresses it with a twinkle in his eye. Arvind behaves like a typical selfish and egoistical husband who doesn’t believe that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. He sulks and throws tantrums, while Kavya fights to protect her turf.
Early in the play, Arvind was being harangued by his boss’s incessant phone calls, which later just stop without a reason. His professional situation gets sorted, but Katare’s solution to Arvind’s personal crisis is unexpected, but also unacceptable. It is neither conservative nor progressive. Katare really needed to drop his own set thought processes and come up with something fresh and cheeky. Indian society does take marriage seriously, but it is no longer as sacrosanct as it used to be.
Katare portrays Arvind with the requisite confusion of a man who wants to retain his youth by getting the attention of a younger woman, but does not want to rock the marital boat either. Chinica Madurkar and Kajal Sonkar are competent (the latter could do with a better wardrobe), but Sahil Ravi steals the show.
The set of a city apartment is attractive and detailed, though obviously designed for a proscenium stage. The various seating areas are well utilised depending on the requirement of the scene.
The recent Marathi production Diet Lagna is just one example of a play that explores marital issues with humour and depth. For a large section of today’s audience looking for entertainment, Babuji Dheere Chalna provides the laughs, but it could also have have questioned and provoked.
(This piece first appeared in mumaitheatreguide.com)
