With the divorce rate increasing by the day, the significance of marriage holds a whole new meaning.
Ganesh Yadav’s Kannada play, Yello Jaritho Manvu, was based on this theme — it offered glimpses of a relationship that takes place outside marriage, in a light and humourous manner.
The concept isn’t a particularly new or unexplored one but the play stood
apart purely because of its narrative style and the way it took the audience into the lives of Anagha and Ravi, the protagonists of the story.
Anagha and Ravi are married — but not to each other.
Ravi, a freelance journalist, fell in love with Keerthi and married her while Anagha, a sub-editor at a magazine, is married to a builder called Girish.
Over the two years that they have known each other, Ravi and Anagha have fallen in love with one another.
They begin to compare each other with their respective partners and try and figure out why they feel so comfortable with one another. Ravi feels that Anagha is a sensuous, sensitive, intelligent and mature woman and Anagha thinks that Ravi is
intense, passionate and romantic.
And soon, they decide to be together as they have found the ‘perfect partner’ — that is, until Anagha realises the strains of being in such a relationship and comes to the conclusion that illicit relationships rarely culminate with a happy ending.
Prakruti, a member of the audience, feels that despite exploring a common subject, they play was quite relevant. “Of late, many youngsters rush into marriage and then end up realising that they are out of love. I feel people should watch this play as it will make them realise that there is no hurry — one should think before taking this step, since there are two people’s lives at stake,” she adds.
Sudharshan, another member of the audience, adds that an issue like this is more lifestyle-related. “There is no solution to such problems. The only key to a good relationship is communication. And that depends on the couple itself. It was a good play and the performance of each one of the characters was very impressive,” he adds.