In search of an Indian in India

Rumbustious Acts

Capturing the changing socio-cultural ethos, changing mindsets, people and society, Bhaav Arts of Expression, a theatre group in Delhi organised a series of plays at Alliance Francaise, recently. 

One of the plays was, Kaam Ka Bamboo Mat Le Shambhu. A ‘corporate comedy play’ with a message. 

Perfect for those in the corporate world and those who are surrounded by office politics.

The hilarious play, which evoked a great amount of laughter with its funny solutions to handle office politics. 

The play also highlighted the issue of nepotism in the corporate world and how hard work and team unity can sound the death knell of office shenanigans.

The play Hamari Matrabhasha Hindi put the spotlight on the infrequent use of Hindi in our daily lives. 

Viral Arya, the director, said, “Every nation has its national language, which is spoken widely throughout the country, take Japanese or Spanish as examples. 

But, in India, things are very different and this play shows the attitude of Indians towards their national language - Hindi. 

In India, people very proudly say that they don’t know Hindi, whereas find it very embarrassing about not knowing English. Log ganwaar kehete hai jinko English 

nahi aati hai.”

Wanted Indian, the third play in the series was about  the search of an Indian in India.

 The backdrop of the play was similar to that of the 9/11 attack that shook the whole world. To look into the matter, the case is handed over to James Kond. 

During the investigation, he comes to know that there is an Indian who is responsible for this attack and James travels to India to find the Indian. But, when he lands on Indian shores, he finds a very different India altogether. 

According to the director Viral, “It is a very interesting comedy which highlights the fact that there are no ‘Indians’ in India. All of us are known by our caste and religion. Koi Sharma hai toh koi Pandit hai, koi Muslim hai to koi Hindu hai, par koi ‘Indian’ nahi hai.

Only during World Cups and Independence Day, we feel patriotic, we feel Indian. Yeh play yeh dikhata hai ke India me har koi mila par Indian nahi mila.”