Having spent a significant part of his life in a small town of Madhya Pradesh called Sagar, theatre director Vasant Kashikar owes a lot to the humble city for his creative inspirations. When the chance to direct a play, Mousaji Jai Hind, set in the same city, came his way, he couldn’t contain his elation. Being staged on August 30 as part of Hriday Manch, an annual theatre festival of Sparsh Natya Rang, it highlights the story of an old man who has woven an imaginary world around him.
In its fourth edition, the festival comes as an annual offering for theatre enthusiasts. “We were delighted when Sparsh Natya Rang invited us. It gave us an opportunity to impress Delhi audiences with our sincere work,” says Kashikar, who believes mousaji’s character to be a unique one. He’s innocent in his beliefs and honest in his intentions. “He’s a destitute who has three useless sons who don’t support him. The uniqueness of mousaji is that he never complains about anybody. On the contrary, he praises them all and tells false stories about their well-being. He always boasts about his closeness with Gandhiji, and claims that he was a sepoy of the Mahatma, which is a lie. The funniest thing is that the entire village enjoys his stories knowing fully well that they are false,” says the director, who believes that it’s in the garb of this attribute that mousaji can easily hide his sorrow.
But, no matter how much mousaji turns his eyes away from the truth, in the end, he is compelled to accept the reality of life.Due to the unfolding of events, the police misbehaves with him and his stories don’t come to his rescue. “He realises that one can live in their own world under the illusion of happiness, but the ground reality stands unchanged. Similarly, our lives are such. We can continue living in fool’s paradise, but that doesn’t change the actuality,” says Kashikar.
August 30: Shri Ram Centre, 4, Safdar Hashmi Marg, Mandi House at 7 pm. Entry free, on first-come-first-served basis.