Athithi- A tale without a twist

Last week I had the opportunity to witness a play, a play which had meaning, a play which did not merely make me laugh, but which made me introspect. The play by a troupe who call themselves "Dummies Drama" clearly depict their humilty through their name. With amazing actors, wonderful coordinators, beautiful musicians, splendid directors and most of all a breath-taking script writer, the name "dummies" is to be passed on as a joke. As soon as we think of Dramas in this part of the world, our mind can think of a handful of people- Crazy Mohan, Evam, Y.Gee Mahendran or at the least, S.Ve.Shekar. Greats like Cho were of the past and that era has passed. Most of the plays, while catering very specifically to the humor quotient, faced extinction with the advent of Cinema. But here comes a troupe, which has the guts to stand the test- giving plays with heavy scripts, mature thoughts, of course, blended in humor. Can philosophy be successfully expressed through a drama? The question was not just answered, but answered with style! The play, titled "Athithi" might give us the idea it is something to do with treating guests. But it speaks a lot more. A great deal of philosophical questions soaked in the script, disguised the form of a story and narrated with wit.

Outline

The play starts with a young man (Aditya), on his way to commit suicide citing a love failure, enters the house of Shankaran after his car meets a wreckage. Shankaran is the lone inhabitant of a house in a deserted village. Shankaran practices the great trait of "Athithi Devo Bhava" (Treating a guest who arrives without notice is on par with serving god). Aditya tells shankaran about his problems and why he has decided to end his life. Shankaran, with his composed coolness rubbishess of Aditya's immaturity and infuses serenity in him in due course. Attaining a fresh calmness of mind, Aditya decides to stay in the deserted place for a little while more.

In the subsequent scenes, an industrialist (Ramprakash)- a typical go-getter enters the house along with his wife and a politician (Vaithi) and tries to evict Shankaran from the place which has been home to him for more than 50 years. He has a plan of building an engineering college for his only son. Shankaran refuses and the industrialist threatens. He starts his construction work without the consencus of the owner of the place (Shankaran) with his engineer (Shekar).

Shekar, a god fearing man knows that Ramprakash has given him the project, not just because he is talented but because he is in dire need of money and hence cannot bargain much. Having no option left, he sides with Ramprakash and tries to convince Shankaran to evict.

The youngster, equally disturbed by the developments tries to convince shankaran, along with shekar not to mess with powerful people and vacate the place and reap money out of the deal. Shankaran tells aditya "why do you have to stay here and suffer with me? you carry on and live in peace". But before exiting, he turns back and tells "But if you have decided to stay with me, leave all your fears and relax. When you have imposed faith in me I will not let you down". The impact of this, we realize in the climax.

The next scene is one of the two outstanding scenes in the play. The next day, shekar comes and talks to aditya and asks him to try and make Shankaran understand the situation and vacate. Shankaran enters. He discourses with ease, to Shekar and Aditya, explaining about fear, faith and confidence. Drawing fine lines of distinction, he tells Shekar "When you are in fear, you show more faith, but when you become confident, your faith comes down. True faith should be beyond fear and confidence". After a session of breathtaking dialogues, Shekar decides to change sides. He changes the plan and decides to build the college around Shankaran's house, without disturbing him. In a few minutes of Shekar's revelation, Aditya too comes to know that he is blessed with a new lease of life. He hears the news that the day he arrived at Shankaran's home, there was a great accident at his office, killing hundreds of people. He realizes, if he had stayed in office he would have died and if he had not met Shankaran also, he would have committed suicide and died.

shankaran councelling the young boy

The next day Ramprakash comes in with an ill-mood, after facing a severe loss in business. On seeing the changed plan, he fumes. Losing his cool, shouts at everyone and violently threatens Shankaran. Just when he goes a bit overboard, his wife brings him the dreaded news- his son's death. The son for whom the entire college was being built. The scene closes with Ramprakash rattled, shaken and fainting.

All the men depart from Shankaran's house and go their respective ways. Shekar, after a few days meets Aditya, who is now promoted in his organization. Aditya tells Shekar even after a thorough search, he is unable to locate Shankaran's house. Shekar, then meets Ramprakash and tells him that neither he, aditya nor the politcian was able to locate Shankaran's house again. He tells Ramprakash that his ill deeds have brought him to this state. Ramprakash, disturbed by the statment tries and finds Shankaran's house after a struggle. He calls out for Shankaran. With a splendid and awe-inspiring saffron attire, Shankaran comes out with his usual serene smile.


Now starts the climax- The peak of the play. Ramprakash converses with Shankaran and asks him why did his son have to be punished for his ill-deeds. Shankaran asks, "who says your son was punished? why do you think dying is punishment? infact, dont you think living is punishment and dying is salvation?". Perplexed, Ramprakash continues, "I stopped believing in god, If he were true, then Shekar would have been the richest now, and Vaithi (the politician) would have become the Prime Minister! Since they are ardent believers!" Shankaran clarifies, "Praying to god is not believing. Merely construction temples is not doing service. Constructing temples was his profession, nothing else. True faith lies above all this. Having complete faith that god is the person who sent us here and come what may, he is going to be on my side is what is true faith". Shankaran continues, "Do u realize, Aditya came to my house as an athithi, without any expectation. Hence, he left with peace with what he got. But you came here and tried to own everything! the greed made you blind, so when you lose what you wanted badly you feel dejected. By my house, I also mean the earth. Come to this earth as an athithi, a guest. Do not expect anything, do not try to own everything, come as an athithi, live as an athithi for 50-60 years and depart as an athithi and peace will be bestowed upon you". Standing in front of Ramprakash he says, "Why do you people keep saying you do not believe in god? If he is away you say you cant see, if he is near you say you cant see... even if he is in front of you..." Ramprakash stands stunned. Shankaran proceeds inside and Ramprakash stops him and asks "Who are you? Tell the truth". Shankaran turns, smiles and says "Iam Shankaran. Iam a friend of all on earth, and those who do not believe in me, Iam still a friend".

My Views

The play as such is a simple one. In my opinion, there lies its success. All men think, but few can put it into good form. The script has made sure it reaches to all audience. It would have been very easy to make this concept complicated and making the audience snore. Keeping it simple made the trick.

The director tries to tell the audience- We are all guests of god in this world. Come, live, be happy, do not expect anything, be content with what you have and depart as a guest would do, as you are going to take back anything. A great concept told in an absolutely simple manner. Few of the dialogues are mindblowing. One dialogue of shankaran which struck a chord in me- "...Rig Veda tells, we cry at the time of our birth but the people around us smile with happiness, but when we depart, we should depart with a smile but the people around us should cry with grief".

The highlight of the play are two people. One is Shankaran and the other is the politician. Though I have not said much in the story line about him, in my opinion he is the best in the troup. In the last scene when Shankaran enters with his saffron attire and discourses, believe me, there were a few people who joint their hands in prayer. Such was the life infused in the character. Watch it to experience it. And the politician... by god, he is the wittiest person! with his amazing sense of timing and great body language he makes the roof split with people laughing whenever he opens his mouth. His facial expressions are unbelievably comical. Very few people would notice, but when the dialogues are being said by others, vaithi does a lot of monkey work with others on the stage. A great sense of humour the man has. Ramprakash's wife does a great job too. Truly, an extra-ordinary job, infusing amazing humour in such a deep theme. Not being shadowed by the main characters, she delivers the goods by acting the typical headstrong and socially active wife of a rich man. Great job overall by the dummies.

I should make a special mention of the music. It has been composed with such precision to suit the theme. When shankaran talks with the lights dimming, the effect it produces on the audience with its mytic theme is simply superb. Kudos to the music director. Equally commendable are the light effects. Dimming them when Shankaran delivers a punch line gave a great effect.

With just 5 characters and a couple of sets, the play could achieve what it wanted to communicate. The actors (especially Shankaran and the politician) showed they had every talent which a mainstream actor would possess- body language, timing, expression, etc...Hats off to the entire troupe. With the script being so gripping, the acting was an icing on the cake. And the music, well... a cherry on the icing!

The play dwells strongly on questions of faith. I would recommend all you open minded atheists to go and watch this. I would not say the play will be strong enough to change your perception, but atleast, you will have yet another ground to debate on!

It was a pleasure to view such a play. Amidst all the masala movies we watch, the drama gives us a refreshingly new experience- a positive experience. It actually "felt" good to watch the play and to grasp its philosophies. With more such plays, Chennai dramas are sure to get a face lift!