The Primetime Theatre Co., brings to Bangalore 'Kanyadaan' (the gift of a daughter) by Vijay Tendulkar directed by Lillete Dubey. The play in English (translated by Gauri Ramnarayan) has done shows in Mumbai, Chennai , Pune, Delhi, Gurgaon, Amritsar and Chandigarh already, and will be travelling to Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Dubai and Vadodara over the next few months.

In Bangalore, the play will be performed on  Friday, August 10, 7:30 pm at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall. Tickets priced at Rs 600, Rs 400, Rs 200 and Rs 100, will be available from August 8 at Super Market, Brigade Road; Crossword, Residency Road; Haiku Honda, Airport Road; and at Chowdaiah on August 9 and 10. For details call: 98440-56181 /98454-99519.

‘Kanyadaan’, an award winning play, by one of India's best-known playwrights, is one of his most powerful human dramas. The story of a daughter's transformation into a wife and a mother, the play is charged with significant social and moral questions, which are deeply thought-provoking, and which have no easy answers.  A young woman from a politically active family that regards itself as progressive and liberal, decides to marry a socially inferior, but talented man. This gripping play, which is also laced with a gentle humour, is charged with an undercurrent of violence, uncertainties and anger, and concerns itself with questions that are crucial to all societies grappling with change and social barriers.

Says Lillete, who is directing the play, “When I read Kanyadaan  recently, it was in somewhat of a vacuum. I was aware it had been written several years ago, but I only realised it was a 26-year-old play, after reading it. I was informed that it had already been performed several times, in different languages. But I picked up a much-performed play because it moved me to the core. Morever, it had never been performed in English, so there was a large section of people, who had never seen it. The story so very relevant—it was a tale both universal and contemporary.”

Aside from its socio political resonance's, Kanyadaan is a gripping drama of a daughter marrying an ‘unsuitable boy,' and the forces this decision unleashes within the family. 

The Dalit aspect of the play has a sociological and a political dimension.

On one level it is a clash of cultures between people who inhabit the same geographical space but entirely different worlds. And in the political context, this problem is hardly dated.