WRITER   BACK

When we talk of theatre the first thing that comes to mind is the script. Script that is the work of a writer. Writer who conceives the subject, expand it and make it relevant to the context he/she is talking about. Writing a script is not a joke because it involves deliberate effort to understand the context. It takes one's sweat and blood to portray what he/she wants to portray through the script. Selection and development of the character is totally dependent on the writer. At the same time he/she takes care to keep every character on the line of the subject. When I write a script I keep following things in my mind

1.Thorough study of the subject -- political, social, economical

2.Study the reality

3.Reaction of the common people.

4.Unbiased, fearless point of view.

5.The target audience.

6.From the beginning of the play to the culmination of it. With clear message.

And after gathering the above-mentioned information I proceed in the following way to write a script:


1. Subject matter    : selection of the right subject of the play.

2. Environment    : political, social, economical and cultural.

3. Story   : to prepare the story of the play.

4. Plot    : to elaborate the story with essence

5. Character/characterization    :to characterize the character based on reality.

6. Dialogue   : length of the dialogue is small but is pregnant, quick, energetic and powerful.

7. Language   : Simple, comic, to the point that will hit the audience directly.

8. Scene   :creation of a scene; who all are there in the particular scene and why; is the scene taking the story further; in short what is the relevance of the particular scene.

9. End   : end of the play should be inspiring, it should churn the audience.

10. Audience   : does the play reflect the audience

11. Purpose   :is the play instrumental in achieving what it thought to achieve; rethinking, research and analysis must follow.

All the points I have mentioned are again based on my own experiences. It has come through religious practice. I want it to be revealed to young and aspiring writers but at the same time believe that first hand experience of all these processes will mean a lot to them. It will give new insight and understanding to them. The role of a writer is vital to the play because he is the one who lives with the subject, environment, emotion and characters. It is only the writer who lives with every character. He stands by his character's joy, happiness, failure, success and hardship. He is the one who knows every character's in and out. When I write I keep all these things in mind so that I reach out the audience in best effective way.

When I took up SWARTHI, I wanted to say that every individual works first for himself/herself. It is only when the person involves him/herself on a larger platform his work becomes part of the masses. But the beginning is 'Self'. There are so many examples..Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teressa, just to name two. Even in this play, whether it is Ray, Priti, Savita, Hoshiar Singh or Mangal Singh, every character is worried about his/herself and deals with the other accordingly. Secondly, there are situation where there is scope to incorporate the real life incidents that very well jell with the plot and is equally powerful on reflecting the brutal incident (killing of Indira Gandhi).

There were other plays written by me. To name a few….MERA BACHPAN, NAPUNSAK, DOOR SE KISI NE AWAAZ DI and DWAND. My intention is to create new plays as well as new writers so that we could take the Theatre Of Relevance to a new height. And among the new writers Srimati Bibha Rani is the one who has written DOOSRA AADMI DOOSRI AURAT.

MERA BACHPAN deals with child labour. There were many things that kept creeping in my mind when I was to write this play. First point is the myth governing the child labour. It’s a myth that an increase in number of working hands is directly proportional to income. On the other hand, it leads to more misery. Poverty is not the sole reason of child labour. It is also the mentality of the affluent class and the business community to get maximum work by employing the child labour. Then there is sere exploitation in works like carpet weaving and bangle factory. All these things took shape in the form of MERA BACHPAN. At the end of the play a child asks to stop their exploitation and give back their childhood.

NAPUNSAK deals with the agony and pain of a neuter. How, one fine day he realizes that he is unable to fulfills his partner's demand. He goes through the trauma of an incomplete human being and asks to every one what was his fault. Why he is responsible for the things he is not at all responsible. NAPUNSAK is a monologue.

DOOR SE KISI NE AWAAZ DI is influenced by the Mumbai riots. The dialect of the play is what common Mumbaites speaks where as the background of the play is those areas, which were badly affected by the riots. The play spreads the message of communal harmony. It has been performed for more than thousand times all over the Mumbai.

DWAND is a play based on the middle class family. The middle class is always the one who becomes the victim of the circumstances. The play deals with a man who to get in pace with the developing world. His jobs' salary is not satisfactory in getting what he wants and he asks his wife to his boss a favour and gets promotion in return. When she denies he behaves inhumanly. The 'Dwand' or the conflict is between the luxurious life and powerlessness in achieving it.

DOOSRA AADMI DOOSRI AURAT is a play based on interpersonal relationship between wife and husband. It deals with the subject as to why there comes a need of extra marital relationship. It also focuses on the fact that if there is warmth, sharing and understanding between the life partners there will never be any need to have extra marital relationship. There is need to constantly, consciously appraise the partner to keep the warmth flowing.

Take up any issue and gradually you will come to know where things are going wrong. But to take up an issue you will have to initiate. I train them to take initiative. But how do you expect others to take initiative once they have become insensitive. I train them to become sensitive. As a trainer I find a greater challenge in front of me. Take for instance child labour issue. The beginning of the journey was a workshop in Baroda. Hearing my poem on child labour, my dear friends asked me to write a play on it. I liked the idea but needed through knowledge of the issue.

I first trained myself to devote my few years to understand the problem in right context. My work as a trainer started since then. Theatre became relevant here too because its an instrument of change. It has originated from the society for its benefit. So, I worked with the street children working at tea stalls, dhabas, selling gajras, newspaper at signals and the like. I lived with them and understood that best way to get them away from their present state of living is to train them to live a meaningful life. I interacted with them and based on their problem, their experiences developed the play MERA BACHPAN.    BACK