Whose morality is it anyway?

A new play in Hinglish structured from an Arthur Miller classic delves into ethical boundaries in today's society

A scene from DoRaha

The tech rehearsal for DoRaha is about to start when we walk into Jeff Goldberg Studio in Khar. A stage is set up at one end of the room. Chairs are stacked up in front of it, to be laid out later for an audience of 70 over the weekend.

Mikhael Kantroo and Varun Tewari, the two playwrights who are also acting, take time out to talk before the rehearsal begins. They share how the message of the play is that sometimes, for a little bit more, you can lose out on everything you have.

Ashok Pandey flanked by Varun Tewari and Mikhael Kantroo

"DoRaha means a crossroads... whenever you have a decision to make; a path to choose. Your choice has repercussions, not just for you, but also for the people you love. That's primarily what the play delves into," Tewari says.

The play is in Hinglish, set in the 1990s, based on the family life of a Major in the Indian Army. It is structured around Arthur Miller's All My Sons, a post-Great Depression American production that deals with corruption, among other things. But both the playwrights remain tight-lipped about how exactly they explore corruption as a phenomenon.

When asked whether the play explores themes of morality, Kantroo says, "Morality is subjective. Somebody's god is somebody else's devil, but I believe that certain things are unforgivable. For instance, you cannot take another person's life; you cannot do things behind people's backs because you had a need."

Such are the ethical boundaries that DoRaha deals with. Soon, director Ashok Pandey, who also plays the role of the protagonist Major Lalit Randhawa, asks the actors to get on their mark for the rehearsal. And the stage opens to Tewari teeing off with an imaginary golf club in a living room with a bar cabinet. We exit the building, leaving it up to you to find out what goes down.

On: Tonight till August 27, 8 pm
At: The Jeff Goldberg Studio, corner of 14th Road and Link Road, Khar West.
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