The Spirit Is Strong:
The bond between fan and idol is unique and quite baffling for anyone who has not experienced a futile crush on a distant star. In India, adulation of movie stars borders on the worshipful. Salma Deewani, a bitter-sweet comedy, written and performed by Bhagyashree Tarke, goes into the home, mind and heart of a woman, whose grey life full of what-ifs is coloured by her passion for Salman Khan.
Salma’s home is a mess; her kids have scattered their toys and shoes all over the tiny room where she lives. Her husband is based in Dubai, calls her once a week on a landline and visits once a year. This is not the life chirpy Salma had imagined for herself, which she communicates to the audience, in piquant Dakhani dialect (Tarke is Hyderabad-based and gets the language right). But she was deprived of an education that her brothers received and wasted according to Salma. Her flirty nature forced an early marriage to a man to whom she said ‘<i>qubool hai</i>’ because he was named Salman. Two kids and an unhappy stay with in-laws, and Salma negotiates a kind of independence for herself. She admits to the audience that her kids would rather eat biscuits than her cooking, and then bullies a couple of members of the audience, to go up to the stage, open packets of cookies and serve them to the audience, making sure everyone gets to sample them.
Salma keeps up the upbeat chatter, involves the audience in her antics, and Tarke has the talent to keep the solo act going without letting the audience’s attention or interest flag. Salma’s is a mundane existence, after all, not too different from millions of women, who submerge their hopes under the mound of domestic responsibilities. She may have to wear a <i>burqa</i> in a conservative society, but nobody can stop her from having a happy fantasy life, thanks to movies and her favourite star.
Without actually spelling it out, Salma conveys the loneliness of women in traditional families, who are never given the opportunity to explore options; once they are married and have children, there is no escape. Salma is different because she is not a doormat, and does not see herself as an object of pity. In fact, she communicates her joie de vivre to the audience, making them smile and laugh.
Bhagyashree Tarke playing Salma is a one-woman typhoon. Maybe the nuances of this kind of fandom could have been better delved into in the writing—it is a uniquely Indian trait, and as Tarke has said in an interview. she discovered Salman Khan has a large female fan following, – Salma even has a Being Human (the star’s brand) t-shirt—that follows his life via the media, as if he were a member of their family, perhaps more so because he is single and, at least to the repressed romantic female mind, somehow available. Salma Deewani is an enjoyable play… and the biscuits are delicious!
(This piece first appeared in mumbaitheatreguide.com)