Men, Sex Aur Dhokha takes a visceral look at the way relationships are sacrificed at the altar of money, says Abheet Gupta
Often we trust our friends and family more than ourselves. So a betrayal by them naturally breaks our hearts and leads to some very dark and brutal consequences. Akshara Theatre staged one such tale about love, hatred and betrayal in Men, Sex aur Dhokha.
The play, in association with Canvas laugh Club at DlF Mall of India, Sector 18, Noida, depicted how events in the lives of the five main characters affect each of them.
It showcased how mean modern society had become, where everybody was a hypocrite and two-timing or double-crossing had become legitimate in one’s run for selfish goals. Friends could become enemies and enemies could become friends in a convenient breakdown of moral codes.
All of this was presented through episodes of broken marriages, infidelity, children abandoning parents and so on.
The play was taut in the sense that we couldn’t gauge the flaws of the chameleon characters till they chose to reveal their true selves in the end. Each betrayal came as a shocker to the audience, and the characters were almost visceral in their ugliness, expressing their profane lives with an extensive use of cuss words and abusive language. But these were interjected with humour in between.
The comic timing of R S Raghu, who played Akshay, and Gurvansh Bhatnagar, who played the character of M S D, was spot-on.
The audience formed a bond with every character within 60 minutes as every actor had a good amount of stage time and each of them made ample use of it.
The storyline was complex in which lives of five characters, including that of two couples, were woven with each other. This was witnessed when Rahul asked his girlfriend to maintain sexual relations with his friend and her boss, Akshay, and then framing him with false allegations to earn easy extortion money.
Another intense scene during the first half where a couple, Rahul and his girlfriend Salina, had an argument leading to physical violence was brilliantly performed by the actors who displayed emotions that were almost real.
Dhruv Shetty, who played Rahul, tempered his anger with guilt in this scene and Bhoomika Meena, who played Salina, displayed a heartfelt emotion of being oppressed and broken from inside.
The play also made some sarcastic observations against prevalent social mores. The play had a big twist towards the end and that left the audience spellbound and rooting for more.
Director R S Raghu combined elements of humour, mystery, suspense, social awareness and drama rather well. No preachiness here, just a whirl of emotions that confuses us ineveryday life.