Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan #PicksAndPiques #HindiEnglishTheatrePlayReview #JohnsonThomas #Theatrewala

#PicksAndPiques #HindiEnglishTheatrePlayReview #JohnsonThomas #Theatrewala #GoetheInstituteBangalore #RefunctionGrant #SandboxCollective #AagaazTheatreTrust #TheOtherCirclePR #PaytmInsider #Harkat

Theatre Play Review

Johnson Thomas

A peculiar look within the crucible of Expectations

Title: Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan

Cast: Nagina, Jasmine, Nagma, Zainab

Director: Dhwani Vij
Rating: * * ½

Runtime: 50 mins

Does this play have anything to do with Alok Dhanwa’s famous poem? The title is the same and reports have it that the poem was the springboard for devising this play. But this play has nothing much to do with the poem in terms of dramatic content. The fledgling efforts at feminism are mini-rebellions in the context of ‘personal life.’ Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan was commissioned as a part of Gender Bender 2016, supported by Goethe Institut Bangalore and Sandbox Collective. Initially, Dhwani Vij collaborated with Aagaaz Theatre Trust to develop a 15 minute long piece with two actors, which was presented at the festival as a work-in-progress piece. After the support of the Refunction Grant by Goethe Insitut Delhi, the 15 minute piece became an hour long show with 4 actors. The play has been reworked to reflect the post pandemic scenario with narratives concentrated around the socio-cultural milieu of the actors and their world. The experience though feelsrather experimental and incomplete.

The play basically explores the actors’ gendered bodies and their relationship with the self, others and public spaces - the piece uses objects, physical theatre, and cartography. The play opens with the traditional bidaai song, ‘ Ghar se dola chala ladli ka ’, immediately evoking time-honored traditional shackles that tether young women to their preordained destinies. But the four women in the centre of it all have already broken those shackles. Jasmine, Nagma, Nagina and Zainab - who hail from Delhi’s bustling Nizamuddin Basti spiritedly draw us into their personal experiences and perceptions of their existence in tiny hovels and narrow streets. They give us an intimate sketch of their despair and show us that nothing can dent their optimism for life. They speak candidly of growing pangs, love, periods, sex, morality and taboos which they may have managed to come to terms with. Rooted by education and self-knowledge, these women are unapologetic about their existence.

The four young women are ostensibly underprivileged Muslim girls so their existence is minimalistic, the set is a pared down space with interiors that consists of everyday items that get pulled down and put to order as night becomes day. The performances have heart even though they are presented without any artifice. The play though, feels rather incomplete and needs further development. The plot is a mere combination of moods and moments put together but there needs to be more meat for a satisfactory consummate experience. The artistes involve the audience in a tour of their experiences but the purpose is not very clear. You can admire the way the four girls manage to navigate the challenges of their minimalistic existences but is that enough reason for a theatrical experience?

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