Winner of the first prize at the Maharashtra Rajya Natya Spardha, Social Manch’s Gay Meliya is back and will be performed at the Pune Natyasattak 2020. Written and directed by Abhaysinh Jadhav, Gay Meliya is a play full of characters with different ideological opinions and narrates what happens when they confront each other. The play revolves around a small unnamed village in India where basic facilities like water, roads, healthcare are yet to reach. The government has decided to rejenuvate the Saraswati river that once flowed through the village. Villagers are working for the same under Government’s MNREGA scheme and when one day, they successfully find water, all hell breaks loose.
While talking about the play with RAD TIMES, the writer-director Abhaysinh Jadhav said,
“the play basically talks about faith, blind faith, Hinduism and the new definition of what a Hindu is that is being created today etc.
The play was first performed a year back. But then we realized that whatever things we tried to comment on in the play is actually happening in India today. Whatever happens in the play is happening today. Therefore, we thought that it is important to perform this play and reach as many people as we can.
He further said, “The best part of the play is it doesn’t take sides. We are not trying to say what is right and what is wrong. The play is about the three characters: Anna who is very religious and looks at everything in a religious way. He believes that the water of the river is medicinal. Then, there the young reporter who is very rational and doesn’t believe even in the Vedas. Appa, the third character, is someone who is very practical.
He believes if there’s some work getting done in the village and villagers are getting to earn some money because of the Saraswati river project, why not make good use of it? These are the principle characters and what friction they create when they confront each other. There are other characters like Raushya who is staunch Hindutvawadi, a character called Sabina, wife of a Muslim painter.”
When asked about what genre the play belongs to, he said,
“If we are to define the genre of the play, I’ll call it a social drama and a mystery play. It begins on the note of satire, but as the plot thickens, the mystery takes the centre stage and the play revolves around it. What the mystery is and what happens when it is revealed is something you’ll get when you watch the play.”
The play will be performed on 18th January i.e. tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Bharat Natya Mandir, Pune.
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