Savita Kundra’s stellar performance pivoted around the plight of a woman, molested physically in her own house. She chatted with Karan Bhardwaj
Only a woman can read another woman’s mind. So, young theatre actor and director Savita Kundra doesn’t need any sidekick performer to explain the plight of women in modern India. To demonstrate better, she got three paintings and enacted multiple characters herself in play Ek Akeli Aurat, which took place at Akshara Theatre. “I am an independent woman living in Delhi. However, we are in a pathetic situation in this country. So I don’t need anyone else to narrate thoughts,” said the firebrand lady, who played the protagonist Seema in the play. Translated by Himanshu B Joshi in Hindi, the play originally titled A Woman Alone is known to be one of the best works of Italian playwright Dario Fo.
It is the story of Seema, a woman imprisoned in her flat by her husband after committing adultery with a boy young enough to be her son. On the outside it appears that she is well provided by her husband, Satish, with all the material possessions she could ever need. But on the inside her life is empty. “Seema has two young kids. One of the elder boys is indulged in his social life. She has a bed-ridden brother-in-law. She is beaten by her partner while brother-in-law manages to molest her on bed. She gets into a relationship with her English teacher, who happens to be a young boy. But later, she finds that even he is interested in physical pleasure and has no emotional attachment with her,” explained Kundra, the actor-director of play. Ultimately, she kills all the three men in her life and chooses to stay back with her kids. “The play highlights the plight of modern woman in middle class families whose voice doesn’t even matter in this male-dominated society. They have to look out for love but as they say, all men are alike. I got paintings of these characters to be used as props. There’s a nice conversational act between me and these paintings,” asserted the 30-year-old director.
Kundra told us that a lot of things have been said and done but the condition of women in India remains the same. “Everything is on paper only. I cannot even imagine stepping out of my home late in the night. I have personally experienced some horrendous incidents while travelling in a public transport. In bus, there are dedicated seats reserved for ladies. But when you ask men to vacate seats for us, they pass comments,” she said.
The young theatre artist did 25 shows of Rabindranath Tagore’s Patni Ka Patra in various cities in 2010. Tagore’s work, which again spoke of women issues, was performed in Delhi, Patna, Bareilly, Bhopal and Kerala. “I am a femininist and want to advocate women’s issues countrywide. I will take Ek Akeli Aurat to many cities,” added Kundra, who has done three-year course with Delhi’s National School of Drama. After that, she was part of NSD’s repertory for one and a half years, apart from playing the witch’s character in Wizcraft’s musical production Zangoora at the Kingdom of Dreams.
photos Pankaj Kumar