A Friend’s Story, presented at the META festival by Akash Khurana, was a Hindi version of Vijay Tendulkar’s iconic play Mitrachi Goshta. He tells Utpal K Banerjee that he considers the play as an understated Greek tragedy
Vijay Tendulkar (1928 - 2008) was an iconic playwright, also combining vocations like movie-and-television writing, with sallies into literary essays, political journalism and commentary on Marathi society. His plays derived inspiration from real-life incidents or social upheavals, which provided clear light on harsh realities. Reckoned among his oeuvre of highly influential drama was his 1981 play, Mitrachi Goshta, a unique love-ballad, culled from the pre-Independence era.
Set in a college campus in Pune, it had a seemingly conventional boy-meet-girl build-up. In reality, it was a menage-a trio among Bapu, a shy boy battling a strong sense of inadequacy; Mitra, an independent girl with a secret that eventually resulted in her downfall; and Nama, Mitra’s graceful-yet-treacherous love-interest. Tendulkar weaved in complex characters and intricate plot-lines that broke the inhibition on lesbian identities three decades ago. A play ahead of its time, it was intense, progressive and highly controversial.
A Friend’s Story, presented recently by NCPA in collaboration with Akvarious from Mumbai in the META Festival, was an English-language version of the Tendulkar play, directed by the eminent theatre-person Akash Khurana.
The diffident Bapu, the care-free Mitra and the deceptive Nama form a charming love-triangle. Bapu’s unrealstic wish to befriend Mitra oddly comes true, without realising that he would become party to her inner struggle with her sexuality. After an all-female cast of a Radha-Krishna ballet — where Mitra is a domineering Krishna and Nama a malleable Radha — there is a covert game of vacillating sexual politics between Mitra and Nama: the girl Mitra now desires.
Nama, on the contrary, enjoys being in a relationship with both: her aggressive boy-friend Dalvi and her lesbian lover Mitra for whom she even undresses.
Bapu starts getting almost accustomed to being treated as a door-mat to be kicked around by one and all. Finally, Bapu’s only other friend, his room-mate Pande, gets attracted to Mitra, and the desperate Bapu is forced to reveal to him that Mitra is ‘different’ and not interested in men. Meanwhile, Nama disappears into a long-distance marriage and the frustrated Mitra is driven to a suicide: her second attempt in the play and, this time, fatal. The gripping denouement — virtually of Greek tragic dimensions seems destined by the Providence.
Extracts from interaction with the director:
How did Mitrachi Goshta fare when it was first performedIJ
In the 1980s, it was premiered with Rohini Hattangadi as Mitra. Thereafter, it faced intense criticism and ridicule. In fact, it remains one of Tendulkar’s least-performed plays. It was perhaps far ahead of its times. I took it up to defy prevailing morals and I think it’s time has come.
What attracted you to this unusual playIJ
One of the reasons was my clear perception that it was an avant-garde play, since its first staging was received with such discomfiture. The growing relevance of its theme, the sensitivity of its characters and the complexity of its structure offered a challenge that I couldn’t resist.
How far did you seek to push lesbianism into the play’s performanceIJ
To me, its essence is not about lesbianism and homo-sexuality, but about human love. As Bapu says in the play. there’s no love that’s perfectly right or perfectly wrong, but only love with many shades of grey. I wanted to depict the play as an extraordinarily involved love-story.
Did you forsake stylisation completely in your productionIJ
Absolutely, I wanted the acting mode to remain completely realistic.
Is the play’s theme of all-time relevanceIJ
I consider the play as an under-stated ‘Greek Tragedy’ of Vijay Tendulkar’s: all about obsession, jealousy, betrayal and quest for redemption.
Although the play that I presented id ostensibly based on events that took place around the middle of the last century, the play’s theme may still be considered as a taboo. The play that once expanded the horizons of Indian drama, stands out even today as a theatrical tour-de-force.