Love and romance on the brink of geezerhood

Satish Kaushik, the eternal actor and comedian, proved his metier in a comic once again. Mr and Mrs Murarilal, presented by Satge Marza at the Satya Sai auditorium on September 17 and 18, was a cheerful blend of romance and comedy by elderly couple.

The play begins with Mr Murarilal, played by Kaushik, sitting in the park when a woman enters. The two start reminiscing about their youthful days and the ups and downs they underwent in the years that followed. At the moment, a night guard, played by Amit Pathak, arrives and reprimanding them on their night-out, begins an argument. The woman, played by Meghna Malik, proclaims to be

Mrs Murarilal and makes every possible attempt to convince him that they are a married couple. Finally, after a lot of argument, they convince the guard. Following this begins the real drama with the entry of the guard's son. Rueing in front of the elderly couple about his son not respecting him or treating him right, the guard asks them to help.

Mr Murarilal, who is fond of preaching, suggests the guard to ignore his son completely and return to his house as if he is the sole owner. The guard follows the advice, which results in a spat between the father and the son. As arguments escalate, the guard in slaps his grown-up son. Distraught over his action, the guard asks Mr Murarilal “how he will face his son now ” To this, the elderly man asks him to continue following his advice of ignoring his son. He further said, that by doing so, his son is surely going to return to him. While his son returns to him, the guard weeps on his own failure.

Just when Mr and Mrs Murailal are having a good time with dancing and singing, the plot turns gloomy. They look at each other’s palms and notice that there are no lines. This means they were dead. Abandoned by their families, the two were trying to cure each other's loneliness. The elderly woman was a widow. Devastated after her husband's death, she used to live with her daughter and granddaughter who were not interested in her.

Mr Murarilal was unmarried. He had three nephews who he took as his sons. He was attached with the youngest ‘son’ but feared connecting with him.

Directed by Saif Hyder Hasan from Mumbai, Mr and Mrs Murarilal is a perfect example of a light comic romance.

Aruna’s Story staged A play on Arun Shanbaug, Aruna’s Story, was staged at the Stein Auditorium at IHC recently. The play by the Theatreworld featured a solo performance by Lushin Dubey as Aruna, the nurse who was raped and throttled with a metal chain in 1973. The incident left her in a vegetative state for over 40 years in King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. The play was directed by Arvind Gaur and had music by Sangeeta Gaur. The play provided a brilliant expose of Lushin Dubey’s acting talent. A versatile actor, Lushin portrayed Aruna’s character marvellously in the play. She varied her voice to suit characters like the victim, the rapist, the matron, three different nurses arguing about the case.

The performance is based on Priti Virani’s book. In 2011, Priti Virani, a journalist, had filed a plea in the court demanding that Aruna be given passive euthanasia. The plea was however rejected. Shanbaug, who was assaulted by a ward boy, died of pneumonia in May 2015.

The forgotten hero Qadir ali Baig’s theatre foundation, Hyderabad, recently presented a play, 1857: Turrebaz Khan, at the IHC as part of the Old World Theatre. The play is written and directed by Mohammad Ali Baig. He also performed the character of Turrebaz.

Turrebaz Khan was one of India’s foremost freedom fighter who fought against the British in Hyderabad during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Known for his exemplary valour in Deccan, Khan remains unrecognised in the history. The play is about the hour before he was shot dead by the regime. The play is set in a forest near Hyderabad, where he was captured by Qurban Ali, a slave of the establishment against which Khan fought all his life.

The play is a dialogue between Turrebaz Khan and Qurban Ali, played by Vijay Prasad. The dialogue is ambigous and makes no point and is just a repetition of the global conflict of class, oppression, discrimination and oppertunism.

Unfortunately niether of the actors could do justice to the script. They were both tentative throughout.