Demystifying deep distrust

Atul Pethe’s Marathi play reflects the absurdity and mistrust present in our times.

August 06, 2016 02:12 pm | Updated 02:12 pm IST

Atul Pethe is also the narrator of Tarkachya Khunteevaroon Nisatlele Rahasya.

Atul Pethe is also the narrator of Tarkachya Khunteevaroon Nisatlele Rahasya.

Atul Pethe is a man perennially in search of new form and language in drama. The 52-year-old has worked as an actor, playwright and director for the last three decades in Marathi theatre. His play, Tarkachya Khunteevaroon Nisatlele Rahasya (The Mystery Stripped of Logic), an adaptation of a novella by Sahitya Akademi Award-winning writer Jayant Pawar, will be staged on Saturday as part of the ongoing Pratibimb Marathi Natya Utsav. He has staged the play more than 30 times in less than two years.

Tarkachya is about Baabi, a writer who is haunted by his uncle’s ghost to complete writing about an unsolved mystery. “It’s like the ghost of Hamlet’s father that directs the plot,” says Pethe, who is both the narrator and director of this solo performance. As Baabi delves deeper into the story he is struggling to write, he becomes increasingly distrustful and suspicious of those around him. Pethe says, “The point is to reflect the absurdity and mistrust which is present in our times, through the genre of detective stories.”

Tales of the city

After writing experimental plays such as Satyashodak and Ashadatil Ek Divas , Pethe stumbled upon Pawar’s detective novella Varanbhaat Looancha Kon Naay Kooncha . Pethe says, “Jayant Pawar is well-known for [capturing] the social landscapes of Mumbai’s lower classes: the warmth of life in a chawl , the culture of mill-workers, and the influence of the Shiv Sena. The story itself is set between the 70s and the 80s.”

Pethe, who bluntly identifies himself as a “writer who works for the have-nots”, is drawn to employing dramatic realism in theatre. Recalling the socialist tradition in Marathi theatre, the playwright says, “In Marathi [theatre] we’ve had a unique kind of realism since before the time of playwrights like Vijay Tendulkar. Which [has also been] surrounded by issues concerning social reform and the stark reality of society.” Although a ‘whodunit’ at the surface, Tarkachya “is also a subversion of the detective genre. Devoid of cause and effect, one doesn’t know the motive behind the murder.”

Multiple plotlines

Referring to the influence of Baburao Arnalkar, a popular writer of mystery potboilers, Pethe says, “At the end of the day, [Arnalkar’s works] were trash stories, meant to entertain mass audiences. But one had to merge the story with the socio-political milieu.” Emphasising the general obsession with linear plots, he adds, “[ Tarkachya ] does not follow a linear narrative, as the past and present are intertwined. The characters are totally grey.” The continuing ambiguity in relationships is what sustains the play’s mystery till the very end. “There are neither villains, nor heroes in the story,” says Pethe, who wants to portray human beings as they really are. The play is narrated through the perspective of a police inspector and his sidekick, nicknamed half- pagaar (salary) , a partnership dominated by guilt and suspicion.

Many characters

Performing the play’s 10 to 12 characters became easier for Pethe with a few tweaks and a shortening of the text. “I had to edit the work with Jayant Pawar. I might have run out of breath while reading out the whole story! But it was a great experience.” Pethe also dwells on the responsibility of the artiste and the reason he, as an actor, works so hard on the tonal features of his characters. “Every character speaks in a different dialect of Marathi, with a different voice that is characteristic of their personality.” Despite Tarkachya ’s bleakness, Pethe adds that the story has generous streaks of satire and black humour. It is an instructive text as the uncle’s ghost guides the narrator on how to write the detective story. “I interpreted it as a contemporary parable and made sure that it allowed readers to weave their own stories out of it. The audience is, therefore, a part of the creative process. I merely act the story out.”

Resistance through art

For Pethe, theatre has always been about asking uncomfortable questions. So what questions does Tarkachya ask of its audience? “People have become increasingly doubtful and suspicious of each other,” he says. “There is a great deal of distrust among people, which is essential to the story, and I wish to ask why that’s the case. The play is a metaphor for the uncertainty which surrounds us [today].”

Political events deeply affect Pethe’s work. He says whatever one writes in the public domain “becomes a political statement. Resistance through art is a must.” Expressing grief over the assassination of social activist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar in 2013, Pethe says, “As an artist and responsible citizen, I cannot blindly accept the brutal killings of [M.M.] Kalburgi and [Govind] Pansare.” Pethe staged over 600 plays in protest against Dr. Dabholkar’s killing.

Pethe draws attention to how artistes want to experiment with literature and content, which requires financial assistance. “Marathi theatre is going through a bad phase in the non-metropolitan parts of Maharashtra. The government should fund theatre artistes to keep [it] alive. Otherwise, theatre won’t survive.”

The writer is an intern with The Hindu

Tarkachya Khunteevaroon Nisatlele Rahasyaat noon today at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA.

Pratibimb Marathi Natya Utsav is on till August 9. See: bookmyshow.com.

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