A mirror to society
DIWAN SINGH BAJELI
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Aziz Quraishi’s “Be-Libaas” brings out episodes of sexual exploitation of women in a society riddled by hypocrisy.
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The common theme and the narrator weave the production into an unbroken narrative.
Moving A scene from the play.
An artiste of many parts, Aziz Quraishi is a writer, director and actor who keeps the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) flag flying in Delhi. True to the IPTA tradition, his productions aim to dissect the socio-economic antagonism wit
h minimal theatrical means.
His “Be-Libaas”, presented by IPTA at New Delhi’s India International Centre the other day,, manifests the main features of his oeuvre — to convey social malaise in an unpretentious and restrained manner with telling effect.
As the title suggests, the play unmasks the sexual exploitation of women and hypocrisy in a class society. It brings to the fore the unethical and socially forbidden sexual behaviour in a society that attempts to shroud such encounters in secrecy. It is not uncommon to discover such incidents taking place in homes, offices and neighbourhoods. Writer-director Quraishi does not sensationalise these instances, but brings out the exploitative motives of the perpetrators of immoral acts, evoking a feeling of protest in the audience.
In one of the incidents, a college student visits his parents, who are away from home. The maid is alone in the house, Initially showing sympathy for the maid, the youth degrades himself by raping her. The revelation of the maid that she is being sexually exploited by his father , whom he considers a morally conscious person, shocks him.
In another incident, we watch a senior officer unashamedly seducing his lady secretary while on duty. She spurns his advances only to lose her job. In a housing society, a father introduces his daughter to prostitution with few qualms. Then we watch an elderly widower who is the head of an office. He is well-mannered and courteous to a fault. But alone in his chamber with his woman secretary, he reveals his true colours as a seducer. When the lady disdainfully resists his overtures, she is shown the door summarily.
A reverse situation is shown: after being dismissed from service from different institutions because she tries to defend her honour, the woman is moved to see the misery and privations her family is experiencing. She is compelled to compromise with her moral stand. She tries to seduce her elderly boss with the aim of getting regular work. To her shock, the furious boss dismisses her on the grounds of immoral conduct.
The common theme and the narrator weave the production into an unbroken narrative. Though the overall style of presentation is realistic, the narrator tries to break the concept of the fourth wall by involving the audience in a debate about social mores being debased by the sexual exploitation of women without being didactic and high sounding.
Subtle and intricate
The production is free from the clutter of props. A wooden frame is placed upstage and a few chairs and a table in the centre are enough to create the ambience. What makes the production subtle and intricate is the imaginative handling of offstage music and sound effects.
The play is brilliantly cast. Laxmi Rawat creates vivid images of the agonised world of a woman who becomes the object of sexual exploitation simply because she is poor. She draws her characters with deft strokes, capturing the imagination of the audience. Another impressive performance is given by Teekam Joshi as the exploiter. In a variety of roles, Quraishi gives a credible performance.
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