Jeete Hai... Shaan Se is a thought-provocative play in Hindi, inspired from a William Kotzwinkle's novel, Dr. Rat. Human beings are the most intelligent, powerful and evolved species on earth. Incidentally, they are also the most manipulative and insensitive ones too. They can be extremely cruel and unfair to other animals. The play explores and depicts the inhuman aspect of human beings in a very dark and unusual manner.
The entire play takes place in an animal laboratory. All principle characters of the play are animals. Dr. Rat leads the pack. There is Moti - the stray dog, Sweety - the bitch, Sugandhi - the wild cat, Mangal Murga, Bhoudu - the pig and Chhotu - the rabbit. They all are so full of life and they make a vibrant little family. They all have aspirations and dreams. Little do they know that not only their dream, but their entire existence will be destroyed by laboratory in-charge Dr. Kalyankar and their assistants -the only human characters in the play.
The unimaginable torturous experiments that take place on the animals are sure to create repulsions in the audiences. Their legs get broken, they are artificially paralyzed and stroked, their stomachs get cut in pregnancy, they are injected with AIDS virus and they are even burnt alive. All this in a name of 'science' and 'research'. The play never becomes preachy. It never talks about Ahimsa. It only shows a mirror to 'God's Best Creations', that is, human beings in a rather sarcastic way.