Mummy Tu Aavi Kevi? play review

Manoj Shah's Ideas Unlimited deviated from its usual genre of biographical plays and opened MUMMY TU AAVI KEVI at the Horniman Circle Garden on 5th May 2011. The play forms a part of the Prithvi Summertime festival for children and has been penned by the veteran Gujarati writer, Dhiruben Patel.

A few questions arise. Did Dhiruben indicate any details (in between the lines) about direction, action and reaction shared amongst the characters? What is the target age group amongst the children for this play? Is it for children in their early teens? But then is the urban teenaged generation made up of insensitive brats?

The play, which is about children trying to modernize their traditional Gujarati speaking mother, appears exaggerated and a ploy to create a series of comic situations that purport to impart a 'message' and glorify tradition. Three children- a 14 year old girl, and two boys aged between 10-12 years fight among themselves all the time, speaking mutilated Gujarati with their mother but otherwise speak reasonable Hindi, Gujarati and of course English.

The children and their mother seem to move in the orbit of ideological extremes. The mother, who is shown as a traditional Gujarati housewife is pitted against her children as if they are from another planet. They hate everything their mother does and stands for. They want her to be hip and modern, and when the 'modernized' mother returns in a new avataar, it's time for the children to be shaken up.

Basically the whole scenario projects an imbalanced picture of a young generation, soft parenting, elders' lack of confidence in themselves and is a fallacious take on culture v/s modernity. The storyline is thin. So the play becomes a series of scenes such as the nonstop wailing of the boy with stomach cramps, the entry of a joker like cook in the mother's absence, the mother's entry after her transformation as a 'modern' mom, etc.

The painted backdrop for the house looks good and has the right perspective. Lighting is fine too but the overdose of western music could have had some relief from Indian music or traditional songs in Gujarati. The performances need more restrain and subtlety.

The play follows the Grips style of theatre. But surely, director Manoj Shah can do better than play the altogether familiar Gujarati theatre card of Indian culture v/s Western (read American) culture.

*Jyoti Vyas is a senior theatre and television person who has trained under Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama (NSD). She has written for publications such as 'The Asian Age' and the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). She has also trained students in the Theatre, and is an important critical voice for Gujarati Theatre.