Vijay Tendulkar’s Marathi plays in Hindi translation continue to be watched by the Delhi audience with keen interest. However, his “Baby” is rarely seen on the Delhi stage. This neglected play was recently presented by Swayambhu at the Muktadhara auditorium under the direction of Manish Mishra, a graduate from the National School of Drama. Manish mostly directs those plays which are complex and have rarely been staged. He took three years to direct Albert Camus’ “Caligula”. This time he decided to produce “Baby”, featuring professionally trained actors and amateurs.
Translated into Hindi by Vasant Dev, the opening scene captures an ambiance of suffocation, fear, and alienation. A lonely young woman trembling with terror to face her tormentor, who has made her his sex slave, is waiting in the room. As soon as the man arrives, the sordid game of sexual perversity begins. Sadist to the core, the more torture he inflicts on the enslaved girl, the more pleasure he derives. After inflicting emotional and physical torture on his frail victim, the brute spends the night with her horribly in an inebriated state. The woman laments her captivity, with no hope of escape.
The narrative moves forward – she hears a persistent knock on the door. Assailed by an unknown fear, she answers the knock. She is shocked to see a wretched human being in tattered condition, cringing for pity, requesting to allow him to stay somewhere in a little corner of the room. She recognises the visitor as her brother Raghav. At this point, it is revealed that her tormentor Shivappa is responsible for the present state of the brother and sister. Not long ago, the brother and sister were happily living. One night dreaded gangster Shivappa entered their house to kidnap the sister.
Raghav resists the gangster with all his might. In the process, he is mercilessly beaten and loses consciousness. Not satisfied, the gangster gets the brother admitted to a mental asylum where he is confined to a solitary cell. Describing the asylum more dreadful than hell, he manages to escape from there. As expected, one night the gangster finds him and thrashes him. Almost half-dead, and bereft of self-respect, he continues to stay there.
Though a sex slave to Shivappa, Baby works as an extra in the film industry to make a living. She comes in contact with a struggling artist Karve who is a braggart and shallow. Impressed by him, she takes him seriously as a lover and benefactor. She fantasises that one day she will become a great heroine.
Manish maintains tension throughout the performance. There are various scenes that are effectively enacted to capture the attention of the audience. He shows remarkable directorial craft while creating a dream-like scene between Baby and Karve which has a touch of expressionism about it. When Shivappa breaks their reverie, Karve runs out to save his life leaving Baby behind. Baby takes only the idol of Ganesha on her head and leaves the room. This image symbolises that in this cruel and heartless world, the oppressed only find escape in the god.
Tanu Suneja in the role of Baby portrays her character with sensitivity, revealing the suffering, humiliation, and exploitation of her character with inner conviction. Sidheshwar Thorat as Shivappa displays two dialectically contrasting aspects of his character. One aspect portrays him as an embodiment of Satan and in another facet he sincerely laments over the death of his wife, weeping bitterly and nostalgically, reflecting on his long conjugal life. As Karve, Manish Mishra acts with spontaneity, making his performance convincing.
