A terribly missed opportunity to portray a traditional middle-class woman otherwise, which becomes all the more grating when her fellow travellers encourage her to stop taking contraception pills without letting her husband know.Ĭontinuing down the woman-is-mother road, the plot distances further when Ayesha, the famous celebrity, decides to keep the baby she does not really want, but finally acquiesces and gives into Paramjeet's remarks that having a baby is a blessing that she cannot refuse. This then makes way for less palatable discourse.įor example, Paramjeet, a middle-aged Punjabi business woman who is happy to relate that her husband and her never wanted children, then goes on to reveal that she is pretending to not want children for her husband's sake while, ''just like every woman'' she does indeed want to be a mother. A lazily crafted exposition may be forgiven as it leads to interesting and somewhat realistic discussions between urban middle-aged women regarding sexuality, gender and independence. Like other pseudo-progressive stories we see in Indian films, television and theatre sometimes, this play too seems to drive across the message that while some kinds of oppression are despicable, others are not.
The others, familiar faces from television and film, still seemed to be getting used to performing on stage. Zeenat's portrayal brought a touch of reality to the personas of the other women and made the play a tad more relatable. I believe the actress was a replacement for Lucky Morani who I guess was to otherwise play the part. Despite stereotypical characters, the actress playing Zeenat stood out from the others in the cast in the show I saw. Each of these ladies, strangers to each other, are running away, literally or figuratively, from some terrible situations in their lives. The premise is full of dramatic potential. It would have done the team a world of good to give up on trying to champion the dozen or so causes it flags and to instead have spent time researching and introspecting even one or two of the issues with more maturity.
It soon reveals however to have taken upon itself all the ''it'' subjects of popular feminist discourse - from abortion, sexuality, gender roles in a marriage, and so on - and treats them ever so simplistically. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and Painter's production starts off as a breath of fresh air. Here, the plot purportedly zooms into the inner lives of the five women. This is seemingly a different offering from Painter, whose previous plays have been lighter comedies based on the cliched ''battle of the sexes''. The play SELFIE, written and directed by Paritosh Painter, aims to portray the darker side of the less than perfect lives of five women who run into each other at the ladies waiting room of a railway station.
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