DIL CHAHTA HAI

Well-known playwright C.P. Deshpande's DIL CHAHTA HAI is based on Kama (sex/love) and is one of his full-length plays in his series of plays on Dharma (religion), Artha (politics/money) and Moksha (freedom). The play is an attempt to critique the middle class morality, prevalent in the Indian society.

Bertrand Russell, while discussing morality had commented that 'it appears that morality is geographical'. This play deals with the fact that one does not adhere to the behavior pattern that one expects others to follow. This creates confusion and chaos. The play tackles the problem of morality in a humorous way. The play gradually goes on exaggerating the contradiction involved and tends towards the farcical by the time it ends.

Naina (Shalini Kapoor) and Ajay (Mahesh Thakur) are college friends and have met after a long time. They both are now married. Naina brings Ajay home and the two re-live their college days. In walks Ramesh (Girish Salvi), Naina's husband who is a CID Inspector and a recognized boxer. Ramesh is upset at seeing a male stranger all alone in his house with his wife. After a chat Ajay leaves and Naina becomes angry with Ramesh for his suspicions for Ajay.

In the second act, conflicts between Ajay and his wife Sandhya (Jaya Bhattacharya) & Naina and Ramesh come clear. Confusion and chaos reign as the two couples try to solve each other's problems. As such the play is about morality pressures and the actual pleasure seeking situations.

Kama is one of the most important aspects of human existence and it exists in mainly all human associations and relations. Morally set codes of behaviour are often times hypocritical. This play seems to have focused on the fact that humans are neither moral nor immoral - they are often subject to live life with contradictions.