Sita’s story

To mark 49 years of existence and move into its golden jubilee, Mumbai-based Ank Theatre wanted to do something special. In collaboration with theatre personality Atul Tiwari, Ank’s Priita Mathur Thakur decided to revive Agha Hashar Kashmiri’s 1928 classic, ‘Sita Banbas’.

To mark the milestone, the play will also honour the legacy of the late Dinesh Thakur, who founded Ank in 1976. While Priita is producing ‘Sita Banbas’, Tiwari is directing it. He says, “Priita first approached me to do (Dharamvir Bharati’s) ‘Andha Yug’. But I have done that before and it didn’t excite me. Others have staged it multiple times too. I showed her the script of ‘Sita Banbas’, as printed by the National School of Drama. Priita loved it and we went ahead.”

‘Sita Banbas’ features Priita as Sita and Aman Gupta as Ram. It premieres at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre on September 30 and October 1. Three more shows have been planned at other venues over the next 10 days. The 35-member cast includes musicians and people who form part of the crowd scenes. The play focuses on the period when Ram banished Sita. Says Priita, “We all talk of Ram and how he was the perfect son, brother and king. But where was Sita in all this? This play focuses on how she began her journey of self-discovery and liberation. It also uses her example to make a broader case for women’s rights, something that is relevant even today.”

According to Priita, an interesting aspect in Kashmiri’s portrayal is that Sita isn’t shown to be of a revolting nature. “Her dialogues are filled with understanding, and even sadness at the way things turned out. Eventually, she chooses her path, while also thinking of her children, Luv and Kush,” she explains. Priita says the play also looks at Ram’s inner turmoil. “He isn’t shown to be a flawed character. On the contrary, the play talks of his wisdom as a king. I have seen other plays on Ram but they don’t bring out his inner sensitivity like this one,” she adds.

To play Luv and Kush, two pairs of children aged 13 and 14 have been chosen. The original idea was to choose slightly older boys as they would be easier to train. “But there’s a certain innocence about younger children which suited the roles,” says Tiwari.

For his part, he is doing multiple tasks. Besides directing ‘Sita Banbas’, he has written fresh songs and designed the stage. Tiwari says, “Kashmiri has written other famous plays like ‘Rustom o Sohrab’ and ‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’ — the latter made into a film by Bimal Roy. His plays were written to be performed but several of them weren’t printed for want of readers of play-books in India. However, we were able to procure two volumes of his published plays from the National School of Drama.”

Tiwari points out that a lot of Kashmiri’s dialogues in this play are written in rhyming lines. He adds, “We have employed the Parsi theatre tradition, and have thus followed things like drop curtains that were popular those days. Certain things, like showing a boat or chariot or the earth tearing apart, have to be done theatrically. One needs to use one’s imagination to bring out these things.”

For this production, Tiwari has written some songs set to music by Amod Bhatt. He says, “Kashmiri was fantastic as a dialogue writer. However, my personal opinion is that in this play, the songs were weak. So I decided to write a few new songs, which will also add a fresh element.”

While singers and musicians will perform the songs live on stage, the play will also have dance elements choreographed by Padmini Haldankar. Costumes have been designed by Richa Sharad in keeping with Parsi theatre style. According to Priita, the plan is to first see the response in Mumbai, before taking ‘Sita Banbas’ to other cities. She explains, “No matter how thorough one is with rehearsals, the real test of a play is in front of the audience. We will wait for the response of theatre-goers and critics and make changes accordingly, if needed.”

The play promises to add a new dimension to Ank Theatre’s repertoire. Helmed by Priita’s husband Dinesh Thakur till he passed away in 2012, earlier productions included ‘Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya’, ‘Hai Mera Dil’, ‘Aadhe Adhure’, ‘Aapas Ki Baat’ and ‘Hum Dono’. For the golden jubilee, Priita will also direct a new play, whose script she has written. “We will simultaneously stage some of our existing plays,” she says. It will be a grand and well-deserved celebration of a landmark occasion.

— The writer is a freelance journalist