Review

Ismat Apa Ke Naam

Direction : Naseeruddin Shah
Writer : Ismat
Cast : Naseeruddin Shah, Heeba Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah

Ismat Apa Ke Naam play review


Pooja Gautam

Ismat Chughtai would have smiled. The famous Urdu writer, renowned as one of the four pillars of Urdu literature and known for her outspoken and revolutionary style of writing, would have liked her stories being narrated by the actors of the Motley theatre group. The three touching stories- ‘Chui Mui’, ‘Gharwali’ and ‘Mughal Bacha’, although different from each other, fundamentally deal with women and their survival in a male dominated society.

Dressed in a blue kurta and white pajamas, Naseerudin Shah, who is both director-actor here, introduced the audience to the work and life of Ismat Chughtai. The first story narrated by his daughter, Heeba Shah was ‘Chui Mui’. The story is about a lady whose only ambition in life was to become pregnant, so that her husband doesn’t leave her for another woman, who could bear him a child to carry on with the family title.
The woman is no more than a decorative piece but her character is contrasted with another woman who dares to have a child out of wedlock in a train compartment. This anonymous character represents the willingness to live life on one’s terms. Although a decent act, this story failed to create an impact like it should have. Heeba Shah has potential but she has not fully been able to draw fine lines that distinguish the narrator and the characters that she plays.

The second act by Ratna Pathak Shah was easily the best of the three staged stories. Narrating the story in the grand tradition of grandmother’s stories, Ratna manages to move between the roles of a narrator and characters like Gori Bi and Kaale Miyaan of ‘Mughal Bacha’ with an ease that is difficult to match. The story is about how the wives of powerful rulers have to bear the burden of their husbands’ arrongance and failure. With her hands on her hips and a little variation in voice and voila, we have the entire world of Gori Bi in Ratna’s performance. The act is the most enjoyable of the three because Ratna does not try and act out every little detail of Gori Bi’s’ life. She narrates the story like our elders would narrate us incidents and this makes the story a lot more personal and interesting than the others.

The third story of the evening performed by Naseeruddin Shah is called ‘Gharwali’. There is a rawness to the story, which depicts a prostitute cum maid. The story can make people uncomfortable with its sleazy lines and double entendres. However it is the rawness infact that makes it so real and easy to relate to. The story is about a beautiful girl Lajjo of no known background but who has hundreds of admirers. A man called Mirza comes into her life, marries her and then forgets her like someone forgets a prize won long ago. Her attempts to have some much deprived ‘fun’ in her life results in a bashing received from Mirza sahib and a divorce. The fact that Mirza sahib was indulging in some of this ‘fun’ himself does not matter. The girl, who long ago realized that marriage was just a way to control the desires of women in a patriarchal world, is happy that such a burden is taken off her.

A pout here and a flutter of eyelids there and Naseer manages to transform his persona into the character of Lajjo convincingly enough. His mannerisms as Mirza are also bang-on. His conversational style and actions make him quite popular with the audiences.
Music by Vishal Bhardwaj is used more as a cue for the narrator-actors than just a background effect. The music is simple and basic but beautiful to hear nevertheless. The set design by Salim Arif and Jairaj Patil is kept to the minimal. The lighting by Michael Nazareth changes as the tone of the play does. It creates the right ambience at the right time. In short this production is a must watch for all those who love to see the dramatization of sensitive and intelligent stories.

*Pooja Gautam is a business journalist who enjoys theatre.


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