Salma's lacklustre life and umpteen fantasies

Life of a Muslim women and a lone housewife depicted in a play 'Salma Dweewani' at Lamakaan

What's new about a lone housewife who has a husband employed in Dubai and has to deal with nitpicking, unsupportive in-laws and her two bratty boys? On the face of it, it is a regular story in many Muslim homes of old city. Yet, delineating the various layers of events which happen in such a woman's life, a city-based theatre group goes on to showcase not just her immediate life but simultaneously holds a mirror to the society in general.

The Atre Company's production, a monologue by BhagyashreeTarke-' Salma Deewani'- as its promo says is an attempt at bringing together the concept of absurdity and realism on stage through imagery, audience interaction and storytelling. In its nearly 50 minutes of running time, Bhagyashree does all this and much more.

Taking off from a dream sequence in which the protagonist is shown fantasising about her favourite hero Salman Khan, the proceedings engage the viewers on a breezy Thursday evening at Lamakaan who laughed uprariously and empathised with the performer. Launching into the local Dakhani accent, Tarke dissolved into the character seamlessly as her uninhibited depiction of Salma, the homemaker with a passion to live life to the fullmade a considerable impression on the audience. Her professional exposure to a course in NSD was exploited to the optimal extent which raised the quality levels a few notches higher.

As the play progresses, there are incidental flashes into the social milieu in which women live and how injustices are stacked against them both by accident and by design. The messages, if any, for the viewers are subtly interweaved and do not seem forced. Though the attempt seems to have been a light-hearted take on this typically film star crazy woman, there are enough triggers that can set off its own thoughts.

The lack of a variety and excitement in Salma's life is compensated with her non-stop adulation of her hero. Though this is a shining contrast and a relief to her drudgery laden life as she proclaims and demonstrates, it stretches thin here and there during her performance.

Coincidentally, with her husband too named Salman, at the climax, the participants are shown how she gets a golden chance to meet her dream guy in flesh and blood at an inaugural function when she is given the honour of handing over the scissors to her hero to formally throw open the beauty parlour.

Apart from its entertainment quotient, the performance also brought in an exposure to the ordinariness which reigns lives of men and women who are seen clutching at straws of their own to lend some meaning to them.