Direction : Neeraj Shirvaikar Writer : Yugandhar Deshpande Cast : Siddharth Bodke, Vaishnavi Rp
SAD SAKHARAAM Review
SAD SAKHARAM, directed by Neeraj Shirvaikar and written by Yugandhar Deshpande, is described by the makers as a black comedy. But it is also an angry love letter to the country. This is an oxymoron, but in this case, it fits perfectly.
Sakharam, played with ferocious intensity in a captivating performance by Siddharth Bodke, is a young man unable to feel any emotions. He goes to a psychologist, who tries to evoke various feelings in him to no avail. She finally suggests becoming active on social media for a few weeks as a solution. Sakharam starts his own Instagram channel, and what starts out as a half-hearted attempt to follow the therapist's instructions quickly escalates into aggression, violence and murder. But the story is not important, it is only a medium for socio-political commentary.
It is a bold play, there is abundant cussing, lines about the significance of certain colours in the light of recent controversies, creators' inability to freely express themselves and mentions of the lead character's bisexual leanings. But the boldest stroke is the arc on toxic masculinity and domestic abuse.
Sakharam books an escort online and sex soon gives way to violence. Masquerading as a comedy, the scenes portraying domestic abuse are made even more horrifying because of the pop-y music accompanying them. This schizophrenic tone brings out accurately the modern Indian abuser: decent in public, demonic in private.
Sakharam explains to the woman who owns the escort service how the escort's murder was not his fault. In his retelling of the episode, Vasihnavi Rp, who plays all of the female characters in the play, is the service owner one second and the escort, the next. The complete change in her bearing from being abused and violated one moment to being money-minded and calculative the next is astonishing.
In his defense, in one of the more poignant lines of the play, Sakharam says he must not be punished because he is the hero of the story and heroes of stories generally face no consequences. And that felt like the entire essence of the play. This is a play where the parts are more important than the whole, where the schizophrenia in mood and music, even in the half English, half Marathi title, aptly encapsulates the collective psyche of modern India: the dissonance between conservatism and liberality, between patriarchy and equality and between what you want to show the world you are and what you actually are. It is a play that will make you uncomfortable and a fine piece of subversive art.
Neha Shende is an avid theatre-goer and enjoys watching old Bollywood movies in her free time.
