In the light of gender

Do Boond Roshni Ki talks about a relationship between a eunuch and a transgender person

"If enough had been written or done about the struggle of women, there would have been some change," asserts Arnesh Ghose, the director of the plays Do Boond Roshni Ke and Pussy Riot to be staged this weekend.

The two plays are about gender issues when talking about it has become difficult, according to him, with a general aversion to feminist ideas. "When was the last time a new play on gender was staged in Mumbai? I can only think of Vagina Monologues and Nirbhaya (which was an international production)," he says.

Do Boond Roshni Ki talks about a relationship between a eunuch and a transgender person

The playwright, whose journey started at the age of four with the acclaimed theatre company Nandikar in Kolkata, says that the plays were first staged as a part of Chaarpaai, a collection of four short plays in February.

The upcoming show, Do Boond Roshni Ki - Stories from Chaarpaai is a staging of two plays of the original four. Though the plays were brewing within him for a long time and he was "dying to write" them, it took him a month's research and a few more weeks of work to finally pen them down. "The two stories are Pussy Riot and Do Boond Roshni Ki. Pussy Riot is about a poetess, Noor Jehan, who has been persecuted for her obscene poetry and is facing fatwas and a jail term along with the banning of her works. She is sitting at home with her girlfriend, Rii, discussing all the great female writers and poetesses like Taslima Nasreen and Maya Angelou, who have forever been persecuted by the law and men," he says. The play discusses freedom of speech and sexual freedom.

A scene from Pussy Riot, a play about a poet

Do Boond Roshni Ki is the story of a eunuch who falls in love with a female prostitute. It discusses gender roles and masculinity. "Why are women always seen as less than men? Why is masculinity a quality attached to anatomy or sexual prowess/ performance?" he says. Ghose considers it important to explore the idea of the masculine, as it exists.
"I think men understand gender and narrow-minded gender roles that has been passed down in society generation after generation. Not all men, I am not generalising, but most. Men believe women are the weaker, fairer, softer sex. Even the most progressive cities and countries raise an eyebrow if a woman discusses sex, or drinking, or abortion, or not getting married, or not having children, or dating casually," he explains.