As a playwright Nadira Zaheer Babbar draws her material from everyday life of the middle classes, their aspirations, frustrations and struggles to climb up to social ladder and as a seasoned stage director she brings to the fore her characters with restraint and sensitivity. She captures the chaos of social environment they live in, discovering a ray of hope and an urge to lead a meaningful life. These aspects of Nadira’s oeuvre were very much in evidence in her production of “Footnotes of Life – Haashiye Zindagi Ke”, which was featured at Rang, celebration of performing arts, organised by the Film and the Theatre Society this past week at Shri Ram Centre. It was a riveting and emotionally enriching evening in the theatre which projected characters with whom the audience identified. The production was mounted by Ekjute, Mumbai.
Unconventional in structure, “Footnotes” consists of four vignettes from lives of different social types which are at once fascinating and realistic. The production is neat and unpretentious, establishing a lively rapport with audience. She has devised a clever idea to weave these different thematic strands into the character of telemarketer which has now become the most familiar feature of the market-driven society. While sympathizing with the character that is forced to do a thankless job that is more often than not irritating, she presents some glimpses of the psyche of the clients the telemarketer talks on mobile phone.
The evening opens with Friends that revolves round two young men hailing from different socio-economic backgrounds. They are sitting in a waiting room of a government office to attend an interview being conducted for the selection of candidates for advanced studies abroad on government scholarship. They are poles apart in scholarly achievements. Young Anurag Mirchandani is the son of famous industrialist with high connections. Ketan comes from peasantry facing crisis of survival but his academic record is excellent. Gradually and reluctantly, they start conversation which is interrupted by the telephone calls received by the swaggering Anurag from his girlfriend and father.
In the process of revelations Ketan becomes excited, his pent-up anguish comes to the fore, expressing his future plans after completing his course abroad. He says he will start a banking system in India that will put an end to suicides committed by farmers unable to pay their loans owing to the failure of their crops. The initial coldness caused by class difference disappears with Anurag leaving without appearing at the interview, wishing Ketan good luck. The play deeply touches the hearts of the audience with affirmation of human compassion which rarely transcends class barriers.
It is followed by Musaafir which is set in a railway compartment exploring the life of the two elderly people. The third passenger in the compartment is a young man. The old man, widower, behaves in a cynical way, the elderly lady, a widow, retaliates with more cynicism. Slowly and slowly, the aggressive postures of the old people give way to more sober attitude, evoking nostalgic mood and both bare their hearts, recounting the callous attitude of their self-centered off springs . Towards the end the Musaafir-passengers-fondly visualised a journey of life together to a destination free from gloom and alienation.
In Painkiller we meet a couple and its bitter confrontations over trifles. Both have struggled hard to achieve success in a world plagued by mad race to gain material success. The couple has no child but both husband and wife are achievers in terms of material success. Far from being happy, they feel emptiness, alienation and have developed utter indifference towards each other. In a moment of reflection both perceive that the flame of love that once radiated their lives when they fell in love and decided to marry has not yet extinguished and it could still bright up their lives.
The evening comes to an end with staging of Peele Gulab that captures the life of an old professor living in two worlds – the alienated present and a past that appears in fragments. He is looked after by his wife whom he deserted while he had an affair with his colleague with whom he had a son. His colleague left India to join a foreign university and married a foreigner.
These complex relationships are handled by the director with remarkable restraint. The sudden and unexpected entry of the son of the professor creates an embarrassing situation for a moment but director deftly handles it to give a new dimension to the confrontation between the stepson, stepmother and father who had long forgotten about his son born out of wedlock. There are moments of bitterness but the dominant tone is one of tenderness. In the face of decay, doom and pessimism, there emerges a future which is young, hopeful and full of human warmth.
The entire cast acts admirably with Vibha Chibber as the bold and tactful passenger and Utkarsh Mazumdar as the ill-tempered and fussy passenger and as aged professor suffering from memory loss give brilliant performances. Utkarsh offers the audience hilarious moments tinged with sadness. Vibha Chibber in Peele Gulab as the most dedicated wife of the professor gives memorable performance, revealing various facets of a woman with humane qualities.
