kaifi aur main

the play was at the tata theater, ncpa. sonal and me drove to meet bahaar and her cousin there sunday evening. the audience was a select set of socialites and khadi kurtas jostling with each other especially in the break for samosas, sandwiches and water… and waheeda rehman- who look beautiful, dignified and completely gorgeous. i stole a photograph as we were waiting outside the lobby.

the play was very disappointing. shabana azmi and javed akhtar read snippets of the writings of shaukat and kaifi azmi (shabanas parents) with an insipid ghazal singer interspersing the dialogue with vapid singing.

the first half of the play told the story of the burgeoning love story in shaukats voice and the story of the budding revolutionary and poet was told through some writings of kaifi azmi. this was bearable. the chemistry between the two and the sweet details were endearing making both of them to be very human.

it was in the second half when the play degenerated into a family love fest that it took a turn for the unbearable. as the story turned to the more stable years of the couples' life together when kaifi wrote lyrics for bollywood- as the communist revolutionary became a songwriter, the story lost all interest and became a mediocre name dropping fiesta with hindi film songs thrown in to keep the crowds happy.

but what was most disturbing was the rather incestuous and self congratulatory smugness of the entire thing. shabana and javed through the narration laid claim to a tradition of supposed communist idealism and hyped bollywood legacies by mouthing the words that connected them to it. about the latter at least there is some justification, but to validate shabanas attempts at privatizing public space like the kaifi azmi park near college as ‘social work’ similar to the years that azmi spent in communes in andheri engaged in workers struggles (or so we assume) seems to be a crime. it was positively sickening.