With a young farmer as its central voice, a Marathi play shines the light on the lack of awareness about mental health issues
A still from the play, To Rajhans Ek that will be performed at NCPA
In the times of online dating where a swipe expresses a person’s interest in another, a Marathi play titled, To Rajhans Ek, written by Datta Patil and directed by Sachin Shinde tells the story of a young farmer who suffers from mental issues after his marriage proposals are constantly rejected by girls.
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An initiative named Manasrang was conducted under the guidance of renowned Marathi theatre artist and director Atul Pethe and Izim Inamdar along with the team of an NGO called Parivartan. The initiative commissioned three plays with the aim of spreading awareness about mental health issues, and that’s how director Sachin Shinde got to direct this play.
“In villages and small towns, marriages are usually arranged by families. Young farmers today face an issue with finding a match and getting married. Most young girls and their families look for prospective grooms who work in the city. Eight percent of the youth today don’t even want to take up farming. The lead character of our play is an unmarried, educated, sensitive boy who faces various challenges in life due to societal expectations and pressures,” Shinde tells us.
“People avoid talking about any mental health issues because of the fear of being stigmatised, and there isn’t enough awareness about mental health even in cities. In villages, people who suffer from mental illness are termed ‘mad’. It’s important that families and friends of the people affected understand them, as support can help the patient recover. Through our play, we wanted to highlight the fact that everyone is dealing with something or the other, and only the degree may differ. Even though the play is about mental health, we didn’t want it to be preachy. The tendency for that to happen with a subject like this is high. The writer Datta Patil has done a great job with that,” he adds.
The 70-minute-long play features Prajakt Deshmukh and Anita Date in the lead, apart from Amey Barve, Hemant Mahajan and Dhananjay Gosavi. The set comprises a single chair and Shinde chooses to use minimal lighting. “The idea was to break the fourth wall that exists between the performer and the audience which we call the proscenium arch. As the play proceeds, I wanted the audience to be a part of the story and to feel that they are in the village, sitting with the farmer, in his house and being able to feel his pain. I didn’t want it to be theatrical, just like someone having a conversation with the audience as realistically as possible,” he shares. Apart from Mumbai, the play will also travel to small towns and villages, and will be performed at a few psychiatric associations.
On: July 8; 7 pm
At: Experimental Theatre, NCPA, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point
Call: 66223724
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