Notwithstanding innumerable discussions and developments, the fight to empower women continues. Dharini Komal’s play Aval Peyar Sakthi (which won several awards at the Kodai Nataka Vizha), deals with the struggles of four generations of women in a family.
Janani and her husband Karthik are IT professionals. While Janani juggles work and home, Karthik focusses only on his work and shirks his responsibilities at home. Frustrated over handling it all alone, Janani decides to relocate from Bengaluru to Chennai with her daughter to be with her parents, grandmother and sister.
Meeting the challenges
The play seamlessly shifts focus from one woman to another and their approach to marriage and its many challenges. For instance, Harini (Janani’s sister) loathes the idea of arranged marriage. She finds it ridiculous that a girl or a boy can decide on their life partner during a brief meeting between two families.
Janani’s mother has taken VRS to take care of her ageing mother-in-law. She thinks it’s her duty since her mother-in-law had been a huge support, who helped her run the household. The old woman, despite belonging to a conservative set up, stays optimistic in every situation.
The family is shocked when Janani decides to part ways with Karthik, and Harini opts for a live-in arrangement with a proposed bridegroom Arjun to understand him better before giving her consent for marriage. The play deals with how the family comes to terms with these modern relationship issues.
Dharini Komal has written and directed the play. Though it’s always a joy to watch a play live on stage (Hamsadhwani, Adyar), the challenge for a group is to avoid being overdramatic. The well-scripted production could have had a better impact with more brevity. At some points the dialogues bordered on sermonising. Scenes such as Karthik’s friend advising him and Arjun pushing Harini to pursue an art to find a balance in life were laudable.
The sound system was off-kilter at many places; a problem that is easily fixed with the best audio systems available now.
The Chennai-based reviewer writes on art and culture.
