Every day, there's a new attempt via different mediums of entertainment to understand the inner landscape of women. The la test to join the ‘probe’ is senior actor Smita Bansal who has turned playwright. The story centres around five urban women in their late 30s and early 40s. Called Hello Zindagi , the play talks about the guilt that most working women have of not being able to look after the family as much as they want to.
“Writing a play wasn’t a planned decision. I was taking a break from my TV commitments. I have two daughters (6 and 16), and I was meeting a lot of mothers. I realised most of them were going through the same phase. When their children grow up, they suddenly start feeling a void. When they don’t have to pack their lunch and no longer need to pick them from the bus stop, they gradually start to discover what they have done to their lives.”
Smita started filling in the characters and wove a story around them. “One is a career-oriented woman in her late 30s who realises that she didn’t pay heed to her biological clock all these years. Then there is an actor at the peak of her career who falls in love and leaves everything for her husband. But when she tries to return to the industry, there are no roles for her to suit her calibre.”
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The cast includes Minissha Lamba, Kishwar Merchant, Delnaz Irani, Guddi Maruti and Chitrashi Rawat.
“We are saying hello to life. It has comic as well as intense dramatic moments,” says director Raman Kumar.
He's also philosophical, saying it's best to marry only if and when you want to: “Live the life you want. There is no point in cribbing later. If you are not able to do that, love the life you live.”
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As Smita's children grow, and she sees them lead lives independent of her, she's nudged to get over the guilt of missing say, an annual day function. “It is not easy, though. Years of patriarchy rooted in our system doesn’t allow us to forgive ourselves. Women are too harsh on themselves. Nobody minds if the father misses a parent-teacher meeting but if the mother fails to turn up because of engagement, the child invariably makes you feel guilty.”
Aren’t men changing? “They are. That’s why I don’t hold them responsible. It is us who have to get over this guilt. But I don’t see it happening in my generation.”
We don’t find such women on television, a medium that made Smita popular. “TV has a lot of regressive content. Those who watch serials are living in a bygone era; a large population of our country is like that. Web series are talking to a young generation about a society that has yet to arrive in this country. Our generation is being missed by both the mediums. Sometimes I come across films such as Kapoor & Sons and Dil Dhadakne Do which manage to capture present-day reality .”
Over the years, Kumar is known for portraying strong female characters like Geetanjali in Saath Saath and Tara in the Zee TV series . “They are no longer rebels. At that time people used to say that it is my imagination. Now they say it is a reality. A rebel has become normal.”
(Hello Zindagi will be staged at Kamani Auditorium, Saturday, 3:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.)
Anuj Kumar