‘Ismat Apa Ke Naam’ is the enactment of three stories written by celebrated and controversial author Ismat Chughtai. The stories are set in middle-class Muslim homes in U.P.
Though Motley prefers to call the staging of ‘Ismat Apa Ke Naam’ a story-telling session, I will nevertheless call it an enactment. Though only one actor was on stage in each story, telling the story in the same words as penned by the author, with minimal usage of props, the experience was far richer and more entertaining than any story-telling session I can think of.
The first, ‘Chhui Mui’, enacted by Heeba Shah, is a story told through the eyes of a young girl observing events in her Bhabhi’s life. It contrasts the difficulty her rich, spoilt Bhabhi has in giving birth to a child with the calm and dignified manner in which an unknown poor woman gives birth to her baby in a train compartment.
The second story, ‘Mughal Bachha’, enacted by Ratna Pathak Shah, tells the story of beautiful young Gori Bi who is married to a proud and headstrong youth Kale Miyan. The story gently pokes fun at the successors of the Mughals at the time the glorious days Mughal Empire were over, their lifestyle, their extravagant habits and their descent into penury. It also describes the unusual relationship between Gori Bi and Kale Miyan.
The third story, ‘Gharwali’, enacted by Naeeruddin Shah, was the best of the three. The story explores the nature of the man-woman relationship, marriage, the status of women etc. With sufficient doses of social satire, drama and earthy humour – which in these days merely seems midly risqué, but in the 1940s must have whipped up a storm, this story had the audience engrossed throughout. Never a moment of boredom, Naseeruddin in the roles of the carefree, spirited maidservant Lajjo, the nervous old bachelor Mirza and various other minor characters was nothing short of brilliant.
A great set of three plays, definitely worth watching; in fact, one of those plays that must not be missed. Though I have not read any of Ismat Chughtai’s work so far, the play makes me want to read some of these stories.
By,
Zenobia D. Driver
4 comments:
I was there! I bumped across this post while i was googling the names of the three stories. Was just now blogging about that experience (not only the plays) and your post seems a much better critical appreciation of the three stories. So i am hyperlinking this url to my post. Please let me know if you want me to remove the link.
Thanks :)
Hi Arunabh,
Did you watch the play on Sunday ? If so, did you notice the young lady who resembled Vidya Balan ? Do you think that was Vidya Balan ? I have a bet on with the friend who was there with me, but have been unable to secure any corroborating evidence so far.
Glad you liked the review.
Sure, do go ahead and give the link to this review on your blog. Am only too glad to have more people visit entropymuse. :-)
Zenobia
Unfortunately, I went on monday. That explains why you did not come across the Che-Neruda fraternity. May be, they all decided to visit on monday :p
But i have a friend who went there on sunday. And he says that he also saw Vidya Balan. So, now, have you won the bet or lost it?
Yippeee ! I won. I won.
:-)
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