Vijay Tendular (1928-2008), was a prolific writer who has written some outstanding plays that have a timeless quality. His Sakharam Binder, Ghashiram Kotwal and Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe (Silence, Court is in session) have created history. His equally important but lesser known play is Kanyadan which he penned in 1983 when he was at the peak of his creative prowess. Like all of Tendulkar’s important plays, Kanyadan too created controversies, and was panned and liked in equal measures. Lillete Dubey’s theatre group ‘The Prime Time Theatre’ has been staging this play in English.
I had seen the play in the 1980s when it was staged in Marathi, and now I got this golden opportunity to watch it in English. Kanyadan shows us what is a classic and why do they survive the vagaries of time. Just before Tendulkar’s play came on the scene, Mallika Amar Sheikh (born 1957), a Marathi poetess, had written her autobiography Mala Uddhavast Vhayeche (I want to destroy myself). Back then, it was widely believed that Mallika’s autobiography was the inspiration behind Tendulkar’s play.
The story of Kanyadan
The story of Kanyadan (Giving of a daughter) is multi-layered. It is the story of Yadunath Deolalikar, a Pune-based socialist leader who is now in his late 1950s. Like him, his wife Seva too is active in the socialist movement. They have a son who is doing his M.Sc., and a daughter who is a graduate. The time-frame of the play is post-Emergency that was clamped by Mrs. Indira Gandhi during 1975-77. The family eats, drinks, sleeps and breathes progressive values, which are bookish in nature, as they are never put to the test.
The Deolalikars are woken up to harsh reality when their daughter Jyoti drops a bombshell and announces that she is in love with Aroon Athavale, an upcoming dalit poet and leader and wants to marry him. Each member of Deolalikar family reacts to this in different ways. Mother Seva, though a practicing socialist, is a mother first. She asks Jyoti some practical questions about the educational qualifications of Aroon, whether he has a job, where he lives, his family background, etc. These inquiries reveal that Jyoti knows next to nothing about Aroon, and has only read his rebellious poetry and autobiography.
Senior Deolalikar is thrilled to welcome a dalit son-in-law as right step towards annihilation of caste. He feels proud of his daughter who has shown courage to take such step. The brother is in tune with his mother and is not happy with Jyoti’s decision. The Deolalikars decide to invite Aroon to their house and have a chat. This is the turning point in the play.
When Aroon comes to their home, he finds Jyoti alone at home as others are out on some work or the other, but are expected any time. Aroon is distinctly uncomfortable in this house, which is safe, well-kept and clean. On the other hand, his house is in the slums where utter poverty and filth rule, and where over a dozen people live like animals. Aroon does not quite know how to handle this situation. He suffers extreme mood-swings, from one extreme of anger and hatred, to tender love for Jyoti. In one such moment he hits Jyoti, and that is the time Seva enters home. Seva is shocked to see this, but controls herself as she knows that she is dealing with her future son-in-law.
In due course, other members arrive and the tension increases. Only senior Deolalikar supports his daughter, whereas Seva opposes this vehemently. Senior Deolalikar argues that they should support Jyoti as she is walking the path of social revolution. Seva does not want her daughter to become cannon-fodder. Despite such heated debate, Jyoti marries Aroon and goes to live with him. This is where the play peaks.
With marriage comes many miseries, poverty being the main problem. Aroon has no job, no steady income, and has a king-size ego and drinking problem. Almost everyday he gets drunk and beats up Jyoti. The Deolalikars look on helplessly at this situation, and do not quite know how to save their daughter from this monster.
Finally, Aroon gets praise and money for his autobiography which is a completely unvarnished and raw story of his life, his struggle and upper-caste atrocities. Now Aroon has arrived and is being felicitated all over the city. In one such function, the organisers want the senior Deolalikar to praise Aroon’s autobiography. The organisers sense a good opportunity here to collect a crowd. By now the dreamy-eyed Deolalikar has died and he realises the folly he made in supporting Jyoti’s marriage with Aroon. By this time Jyoti is also pregnant.
Seva pleads with Deolalikar to praise Aroon’s book in public. Deolalikar flatly refuses as he cannot be dishonest with his assessment. By now he has also realised the two-faced personality of Aroon and is unwilling to be party to such functions. Seva pleads with him and tells him that if he does not go to the function and praise Aroon’s book, Aroon may hit their pregnant daughter. Defeated, Deolalikar presides over the function. This angers Jyoti as she cannot stand this.
The Deolalikars and Jyoti have an argument which leads to the end of the play. It is more of Jyoti’s broadside against Deolalikar where Jyoti tells him that the way they brought her up was completely different from the harsh world outside. She was led to believe that life is a big walk in rose garden whereas in reality one keeps confronting Aroon-like people every step of the way. She tells him that in future they should not cross each other’s path as she is beginning a new life where the Deolalikars have no room. This is a clash between ‘People Like Us’ (PLU) and ‘People Like Them’ (PLT). The play grips the audience from the moment Aroon comes on the stage.
The play
The play has been translated by Gauri Ramnarayan and is directed by a competent, senior theatre-person, Lillete Dubey. She has properly understood the ethos of the play, its nuances, and put her cast to the best use. Rajendra Gupta (Yadunath Deolalikar), Joy Sengupta (Aroon), Deepika Amin (Seva Deolalikar), Mrunmayee Godbole (Jyoti) and Gandharv Dewan (son) are a competent group of actors. A few special mentions have to be made. First and foremost is Joy Sengupta, who has essayed the complicated character of Aroon Athavale with tremendous ease and energy. He has shown the development of the character of Aroon through apt body language. Joy shows the tension, the anger Aroon must have felt when he comes to Deolalikar’s home for the first time. This must be his fist time visit to an upper-caste, upper-class home. And in the second act of the play, one sees a confident, arrogant Aroon. Joy carried these changes very convincingly. Then there is the old war horse Rajendra Gupta, a highly dependable actor supported by Mrimanyee Godbole, who shows the vulnerability of Jyoti and her later determination. The original music score by Mahesh Tinaikar and costumes by Trishna Popat add to the impact of the play. Kanyadan directed by Lillete Dubey is sheer pleasure to watch.
[/column][column size=”4/5″]
Prof. Avinash Kolhe
Prof. Avinash Kolhe retired as Associate Professor in Political Science from D.G. Ruparel College, Mumbai.[/column]