One invariably walks a thin line while staging subjects like Prostitution. The danger is to slip into the obvious or spike it with glamour. Playwright Purva Naresh's play, which has emerged from Writers' Bloc 3, manages to overcome these pitfalls, but succumbs to another kind of problem- it romanticizes and glorifies. The play, directed by Rabijita Gogoi, starts off promisingly enough with a couple, who are documentary filmmakers (played by Ahlam Khan Karchiwala & Jim Sarbh). The young, unmarried couple- Pooja and Mitch find their muse in a community of people, living near a highway in the northern part of India. This particular community has over the years come to believe that prostitution is part of their tradition. The women from this community service truckers who traverse the route regularly, and who stop at the highway for three things-'food, petrol and sex.'
The set premise soon enough transforms itself into a drama of relationships that come to be forged between the documentary filmmaker-couple and the community, particularly with two girls from the community- Seema (Prerna Chawla) and Roopa (Nishi Doshi). Lead by uniformly good performances, the play does not provoke though, and is virtually devoid of any critique. In its best moments, it speaks for the virtuosity of its actors, in particular, the feisty Seema as portrayed by Prerna Chawla. Prerna Chawla, in spite of her small frame, is a fireball in this performance (as is expected of her), and over various productions has emerged to be a versatile actor. Here, she is finely supported by Nishi Doshi's quieter but 'silent waters run deep' persona of Roopa. The two of them together share a chemistry established from their former pairing in the playwright's earlier and better play-AAJ RANG HAI.
The drama ranges from the tenuous and the circumspect relationship that Pooja shares with her white boyfriend, Mitch, to each of them getting close to the girls and their shared lives and secrets. The drama persists and towards the end, the relationship-dynamics between the four main characters- Pooja, Mitch, Seema and Roopa is no longer what it used to be. It's a carefully crafted end to surprise but does little to reveal any character graph or depth.
The characters on the contrary appear lopsided, one-dimensional and contradictory. Pooja's tense relationship with Mitch, devoid of sex, is neither explained nor explored. Nor is her moral outrage that she feels towards Seema to begin with, in spite of being a filmmaker who wishes to document the girl's life. At the end again, Mitch and Roopa's characters in opposition with Pooja and Seema's also appear to be a convenient device; particularly the unreasonable manner in which Mitch and Roopa are dealt with.
The set and light design by Dheerendra Dwedi create the desired ambience and Rabijita's direction ensures that there is never a dull moment. The play might have been more compelling were it not for its injections of drama and conflict.
