Inclement weather failed to dampen the cultural spirit of Doon as residents thronged the ONGC Auditorium to watch Usha Ganguly's acclaimed play 'Rudali'. Clearly, few other theatrical productions in recent times have commanded the overwhelming response garnered by this powerful presentation staged on Sunday evening.
In a rare show, people even had to be turned away politely as the hall became choc-a-block with a varied amalgam of enthusiastic audience.The staging, the second in a five-day national theatre festival being organised by REACH in association with Kolkata's Rangkarmee, attracted several bureaucrats, artists and city elite as well as many youngsters. And put in a word, viewer reaction to the finely enacted play was thrilling.
While director Usha Ganguly portrayed the lead character Sanichari, the performance of the entire cast including Sandhya Chakraborty as Bikhni, Babita Tiwari as Parvatia along with Shishir Dutta, Dipesh, Rani Mitra and Jai Prakash was appreciated by the audience. A perspective of the Dalit class in independent India, Rudali was a stirring repertory bringing out the complex strains of a low-caste poor woman in the country.
The play depicted the struggle of an oppressed woman against poverty, humiliation and desolation interwoven with unsettling realities of other women wrecked by an exploitative patriarchal caste-based social system. Damaged by their own family, community members or the ruling rich, these desperate women either succumb to a relegated existence, like Parvatia Gulbadan and the others who became prostitutes for survival; or like Sanichari and Bikhni, challenge their repression. The play represented the wretched condition of a low-caste starving family in post-colonial Indian society. It highlighted the particularly miserable position of backward class women in rural India.
Sanichari, the central character, is an energetic and steadfast Dalit widow living in a village in Bihar, reeling under the burden of fending for her family. With no earning male member, she confronts enormous difficulty making ends meet while still being cursed as a 'witch who has devoured the men of the house' by her own kin. left alone, Sanichari finds an ally in her long-lost friend Bikhni, another hapless Dalit widow abandoned by the son she raises with much sacrifice.
The two form a deep emotional bond and a partnership for survival as they discover financial emancipation in an uncommon occupation -- as hired mourners (Rudali) to add flamboyance to funerals of the feudal rich in their hypocritical pretense.The new vocation gives the two middle-aged women their first sense of independence and mastery. But soon after, Sanichari suffers another blow when her only friend — Bikhni dies from dysentery for lack of basic medical care.
Being able to shed tears for the first time in all the human losses that she has faced, Sanichari is shocked and devastated. But refusing to break, she emerges, and revolts against her misery and isolation. Alone, she visits the brothel to recruit a band of Rudalis from among the prostitutes, where she encounters her fiercely rebellious
run-away daughter-in-law Parvatia. Wishing to free them from exploitation of the flesh-trade, Sanichari motivates and trains them on how to excel as false mourners at funerals of the rich landlords, "When you start, weep as if you have lost someone close to you, someone dear to your heart. Beat your breast and cry out with such feeling that their blood runs cold!" she teaches them.
The play culminates with these prostitutes faking loud mourning at the death of the very man who pushed them into the pyre of prostitution. There is a sense of freedom from their indignant life in this alternative profession that earns them cash, food grains and goodies without having to sell their bodies.As curtains draw, Sanichari remains on the stage. Keeping the bundle of food in her hands (which she got after mourning at the death), securing the money she has earned, smiling despondently at her destiny.
As stated by Vali-ur-rahaman, "Throughout the play, Ganguli dramatises two things: (a) Man cannot secure women. (b) Women, whether they belong to the poor or rich, are only subject of sexual relationship. Her self-dependence represents a challenge to male/class dominated society. But part of the play shows women's suffering partly due to poverty and partly to their submissiveness and reluctance to be self-dependent. They let their characters be ruined like Parvatia."
Speaking to The Pioneer, Ganguly said, "I believe that the Indian woman, whether it is Sanichari or someone from the middle or upper class, is exploited in our society. Somehow, I view Sanichari is protesting against this society on the whole." Interjected by whole-hearted audience applause, the one strong message that the play gave out on Sunday was, 'Women! Be mindful and become self-reliant!'