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Of many virtues and vices

DIWAN SINGH BAJELI

C.P. Deshpande’s “Aankh Micholi” is a slice of Indian urban middle class life infused with comic wit.



CONTEMPORARY A scene from the play.

C.P. Deshpande’s “Aankh Micholi” presented by SRC Repertory at its auditorium this past week talks about sex and sexual fantasy of married men. But eschews vulgarity and smutty double entendre.

The intent of the comedy play is to expose double moral standards of married men. However, the real strength of the production lies in its sleekness and in its vital comic rhythm which evokes infectious laughter.

Translated into Hindi from the original in Marathi by Anil Deshmukh, the play is directed by Chetan Dattar. A theatre personality of many parts, he is currently collaborating with two dancers — Rajshree and Vaibhav Arekar — on a dance theatre project. Chetan displays his innovative skill to handle his cast in a way that affords the audience the opportunity to experience remarkable comic moments.

His cast does not resort to a hackneyed comic acting style. Drawn from the real Indian urban milieu, the characters are projected in a lifelike manner. This device makes the characters recognisable, and some of the members of the audience may identify with these characters.

The play spans two evenings. In the first evening, the dramatic action takes place in the house of Naina, a newly married young woman whose husband is an intelligence officer and a boxer. She has a chance meeting with her collegemate Ajay at a shopping centre. She seeks his help to carry home her bundles of provisions. Attracted by the charm and encouraged by her smiles, Ajay prolongs his stay at the house of Naina and tries to engage her attention in lively conversation with the ulterior motive of seducing her.

In the course of interaction with Naina, he comes to know that her husband is a boxer and intelligence officer and is aggressive. This induces fear in him. He wavers between his fantasy of establishing an adulterous relationship with Naina and the dread of her husband in case he is caught. This makes his movement unsteady, and his speech is marred by stammering.

Both the director and the performer exploit this comic situation to the hilt. Enters Naina’s husband — Thakur, exuding the aura of an intelligence officer who could see through the mind of a visitor. Flaunting his boxing prowess, he tells Ajay to his face what his motive is in talking with Naina.
Tug-of-war

The action shifts to the house of Ajay, who is furious with his wife Sandhya, who returns home late from the office.

She tells him that she went to the house of a colleague who is a bachelor and lives alone, making her husband all the more furious. The subtle use of gags and the directorial treatment of the scene bring the comic elements to the fore.

As the tug-of-war between the husband and wife takes a serious turn, Thakur and his wife enter the scene. Now, our attention is focused on the dialogue and physical interaction between Ajay’s wife and Thakur. The scenes Ajay’s wife enacts embarrasses all the characters. She ridicules them for taking her advances to Thakur as sexual because in their minds they are obsessed with sex. This scene is at once hilarious and an expose of the double standards of married men. What is remarkable about the production is that it is neither preachy nor bitter in tone. At the same time it does not resort to complications and counter intrigues. A slice of middle class life in urban India is infused with comic wit.

Shrikant as the suspecting husband of Sandhya, Diksha Thakur as the charming and lively wife of Thakur played by Naresh Dabral and Rakhi as Sandhya, were eminently comic, displaying their perfect timing. They established a lively rapport with the audience.