TRUE LIES. Review on Safed Jhoot Kaali Shalwar

SAFED JHOOT KAALI SALWAR - Hmmmmmmm weird name but sounded interesting enough for a total theatre illiterate like me. My friend Shruti, who dabbles big time in theatre, informed me of this play coming up at NSD auditoriums in Delhi and said that it was a good one with supposedly Nassiruddin Shah his wife and daughter all in the movie. Me being an honorary member of the hype brigade ( who though being illiterate about a particular field of art etc., act very intelligent in front of those who are even more ignorant about that field ), immediatly jumped at the chance and asked her to book a ticket for me too which at Rs. 25 was a mere pittiance when compared to rates of tickets in todays movie halls.

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It seems there are many more members of this hype brigade than I thought , coz according to Shruti there were many people in the ticket bookin line who were , like me, under the impression that Nassir Ji and Ratna Pathak Shah Ji were acting in the play. Did I mention that I too was under this wrong impression. Turns out that Nassir and his wife have directed this play whereas Nassir's daughter Heeba Shah has acted in the play. I say Nassir's daughter coz she has been sired by Nassir from a previous wife (Anyways lets drop this particular family topic and get back to the play). So when I reached the venue, it was like entering a different world. Being just a stone's throw from Delhi's Connaught Place, NSD - Mandi House is a world within itself. When you enter, you find people of a different world in there. The amount of Art and culture in the air seems to reach out and envelope you into its midst. And the people are equally warm too. Finally we made our way past all this and entered the auditorium with the envious glares of all those hopefulls boring into our backs,who had not been able to book tickets in advance and were standing in a line outside in the hope that they might get an aisle ticket or something. I must thank my friend Shruti that she managed to book the tickets in advance because within 30 minutes of the ticket counter opening one week earlier, the tickets had been sold out.

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Anyways when we entered the auditorium it was chaos in there with everyone trying to grab their seats before the show started. Eventually start it did, with a loud recording of a cacophony of cellphone rings which threatened to tear out our eardrums. As the sound faded away, the voice of Nassir Ji said '' Show ke dauraan Apne cellphones aur pagers ko off karne ka aur off rakhne ka shukriya '' ( Thank you for switching off your cellphones and pagers and keeping them switched off during the show). I must say it was pretty effective coz during the whole show just one cellphone rang and at that too the whole audience was ''shhhing'' the phone owner. The play was conducted by a sootradhar (narrator) who did an amazing job of narrating the play. In Manto's words he told the audience how he (Manto) was prosecuted by the Muslim court of law for writing novels and stories about the lives of prostitutes etc which were considered obscene by the courts. And then he proceeded to narrate the story of a prostitute by the name of ''Sultana'' who according to Manto was a businesswoman in the true sense.

The play potrayed how Sulatana, a famous and affluent tawaif (Prostitute) residing in Ambala Cantt. spends her days earning her living. Here Heeba Shah's (who was playing the role of Sultana) body language was really amazing. Even though I've personally never had the pleasure of observing the body language and behaviour of a prostitute, I felt that Heeba Shah's body language was amazing .Reminded me a little bit of ''Pretty Woman'' and ''Chandni Bar''. Then the play follows how on the behest of her boyfriend Khudabaksh, she comes to Delhi and how her fortunes take a downward turn. The role of Khudabaksh was played by this amazingly talented guy called Avil Vipul or something. My friend told me that this guy is rumoured to be Heeba Shah's real-life boyfriend. Anyways he was simply amazing. The fourth play of the night starred him as the main character and there he really excelled himself and overshadowed everyone's performance. The two plays in between were nice but nothing compared to the first and fourth play which were simply brilliant. If this play comes to your town then do go ahead and watch it and be sure to book ur tickets the moment the counter opens otherwise you might just get left out twiddling your thumbs.

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Enjoy the play. Luvnhugs, azzvyn