KOCHI: Clad in a bright purple nauvari, her nath twinkling and a string of gajra around her chignon, Heera is every inch the feisty lavani woman. But behind all the greasepaint and glitter is a sea of pain and pathos- a lonely soul braving personal and professional storms. Heera belongs to a world where she is always a bai (female) and never a tai (sister), an artist who remains unsung, a mother her kids are not proud of. But the heroine of Tichya Aaichi Goshta Arthat Mazya Athavanincha Phad, Rajashree Sawant Wad’s 105-minute Marathi solo play, is not looking for any sympathy. She is one strong and proud woman who flaunts her femme fatale side with a flourish.
The girls in Heera’s community get their ghungroos at a much younger age. Nine-yard saris, beats of dholki, rich patrons and the life of a concubine follow. Rajashree, who has directed the play and essayed Heera on stage, says she was always intrigued by the Marathi folk theatre. “I think it’s a subject very close to all Maharashtrians and I wanted to know more about it. I have been researching their lives for long and then I chanced upon this script by Sushama Deshpande. It was written some 25 years ago and she used to stage it during that time. But, the startling fact is that the situation remains same for lavani artists even today. Just like the intransigent norms of their art form, their life is also stuck at a rigid and stagnant point,” she says.
The production wasn’t easy as Rajashree had to invest long hours learning the dance form with all its sensual nuances. “I attended a lot of lavani festivals held in the interiors of Maharashtra. Then I had to blend in the song-and-dance interludes in the script,” she says. During the tamasha season the artists have this baitak rooms where they sit and flirt with their customers. “I spent time with them to pick up their postures and movements,” she adds.
Heera is proud of her art form, about the way she conjures an air of seduction covered head to toe in silks and jewels. “That’s why I love Heera. He is quite unapologetic about her status as a lavani dancer. And she is aware of the power she wields over a roomful of men. She accepts her fate, makes peace with it and is her own woman.” In the play, Heera bears her soul, peeling off layer after layer of her life- her childhood, the men in her life and her proud-and-passionate bond with her art. “Lavani is a major part of Maharashtrian culture, but the artists are always looked down upon. Though they are as good as or even better than any classical artist, they are denied acceptance and respect. Since lavani has strong folk roots it’s not taken as seriously as kathak or odissi,” says Rajashree.
The title Tichya Aaichi Goshta Arthat Mazya Athavanincha Phad means ‘Her Mother’s Story albeit the Caravan of My Memories’. In the play, Heera’s daughter Ratna, who is forever embarrassed of her mother, suddenly develops an interest in her. “She is a journalist and wants to write about her mom- a tamasha artist and an unwed mother. But Heera, the headstrong and empowered woman she is, says she herself will narrate the story. It’s in fact the caravan of her memories,” she says. The play was staged in the city as part of the ongoing National Theatre Festival.