Review

BETWEEN THE LINES

Direction : Nandita Das
Writers : Nandita Das & Divya Jagdale
Cast : Nandita Das & Subodh Maskara

BETWEEN THE LINES Play Review


Swapna Vora



 BETWEEN THE LINES Review

Most women work as maids or as managing directors and everything in between, while running their homes too. Married to each other, Shekhar and Maya (Nandita Das and Subodh Maskara) explore the changing shapes of love and everyday life as they find themselves at the opposite ends of a criminal case. Both are lawyers: one renowned and successful; the other, a former gold medallist, but now a 'novice' as she did not pursue her career. The case that unsettles the couple's lives, allegedly involves a crime. The accused in the case is a woman called Kavita who has been filed for attempting to murder her husband. The husband Mukesh who survives the gunshot admits that he beat his wife from time to time. Kavita, because of her circumstances and social conditioning got used to it till that fatal morning when the gun went off.

BETWEEN THE LINES

Maya who decides to take up Kavita's case finds herself opposing her husband Shekhar who is Mukesh's counsel. The court drama in which Maya and Shekhar double up as Kavita and Mukesh is set up as a device for Maya to start questioning some of the things she had come to happily accept as Shekhar's wife, as the mother of their son Arjun and through her overarching role as homemaker.

The court drama predictably begins to affect the lawyer-couple's personal relationship. They end up arguing in court and at home, and their arguments are very familiar. Their kind and loving relationship however holds them in good stead as Shekhar attempts to understand his wife. After all the earlier misgivings, Shekhar is able to accept his wife's success and appears capable of beginning to appreciate her needs as an individual.

This is Subodh Maskara's debut in professional theatre with his much acclaimed wife, Nandita Das, one of our finest actresses. This tightly produced play co-written by Nandita Das and Divya Jagdale and directed by Das again, has simple sets. Some editing might help the script though. However everything is done effectively and efficiently from the double roles that Das and Mascara play to the shifts in mood and change of scene from the lawyer-couple's living room to the court room. This play with its universal theme played to a near full house at the NCPA on its opening night and was enthusiastically applauded. It is set to travel to many cities, including Dhaka. Recommended even if it is predictable.

Swapna Vora writes on Indian Art, amongst other things. She has worked in India, Hong Kong, Kenya, Great Britain and in the United States of America.


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