CHAPA KATA Play Review

Does bringing up our off-spring in the face of hardships, be they emotional, physical or financial, oblige our children to be committed to us? Should we then compel them to live their own lives in our shadow and be at our beck and call? Must the children give up on their individual lives, particularly when a parent is possessive? Does it mean that if children pursue their own lives, they are being selfish?

These are some of the questions that writer Iravati Karnik attempts to ask through her play CHAPA KATA. Co-produced by Anamika and Rasika Productions, and directed by Sameer Vidwans, this is a family drama dealing with parent-child relationships.



The play opens to a watershed moment in the life of Uttara Bhagwat (Reema Lagoo), an elderly, sickly, borderline hypochondriac widow, living with her only child, Maitreyi (Mukta Barve), who is a spinster at the ''advanced age of thirty-three''. Attention-seeking by nature, Uttara craves company and conversation, and fears loneliness. So, it is with secret horror that she hears of her daughter's falling in love with an eligible young man and also of the possibility of the relationship going further.

The prospect of having her only family, support and companion separated from her, arouses a pathological possessiveness. We watch incredulously as Uttara undermines her daughter's confidence and raises doubts in her about her own suitability as a good wife, with Machiavellian ruthlessness. Furthermore, she manages to alienate the young suitor when he pays a visit. The last straw is the dramatic swoon-cum-stroke that she enacts to tie her child down to her side.

Uttara, who felt abandoned by her husband's infidelity and betrayed by her daughter's close relationship with her father, feels justified in her demand of her daughters' sacrifice.

What about Maitreyi, the daughter? The loss of her love in the face of her own mother's selfishness makes her bitter. We wonder if she will ever make her own choices, and live her life as she wishes to. How will she cope? The viewers find out soon enough. Nuclear families will identify with Uttara and Maitreyi's conundrum, as this play mirrors some of our own dilemmas.

Reema Lagoo steals the show with her hyperbolic dialogue of an old woman and hesitant body language of an insecure senior citizen. So strong is the sense of deja vu when one sees her perform, that we cannot help but wonder if she has been inspired by some talkative aunt or catty neighbour that we have known. She is suitably counterbalanced by Mukta Barve who as the dutiful daughter is understated, controlled and dignified, even during the emotional moments. She holds her own against the powerful persona of her co-star, playing the exasperated daughter, loving child, stern caregiver, and yearning lover with ease.

The effortlessness with which the two interact on stage suggests a terrific equation. The lead performers are ably supported by Ashish Kulkarni and Shriram Gadgil.

The play is also contemporary in its outlook with an open reference to a physical relationship between the lovers with none of the usual coyness we have been accustomed to. The mother's loving admonishment of her daughter, even though it's calculated, has a modern nuance. The mother insists her daughter make something of her life and retain her identity.

CHAPA KATA literally means heads-or -tails; the two sides of a coin. The relevance of the title has to do with the intertwined relationship of mother and daughter who are irrevocably bound to each other, yet who will always be opposing each other.

A good watch with a subject to ruminate on.

*Ujwala Karmakar is an Anaesthesiologist by profession. She likes to watch plays, read, and listen to music among other things. Ujwala has also been writing on women's issues, parenting, travel, etc.