Dramatic moments in Indian weddings

In this ‘online’ age, it is not surprising to see a young girl recording the information required in a bio-data through a video rather than write in a document format. What surprises is that even veteran playwright Girish Karnad employs new-age technology and the directors adapting his script for stage, remain true to each word.

Wedding Album, the play penned by Karnad, inspires National School of Drama’s ex-faculty K S Rajendran enough to recreate the Kannada litterateur’s work for Delhi audience. Staged at the Sammukh Auditorium, NSD, over the last weekend, the play drew an impressive audience. There were at least two reasons for the huge turnout – the popularity of Karnad and free entry.

Those present did get a taste of Karnad’s satire on the weddings in the urban middle-class families which face numerous ups and downs, yet come out successful. The credit of incorporating even the minutest detail of a wedding goes to Karnad, but that of representing the same on stage, remains with Rajendran and his co-director Medini Kelamane.

The narrative is set in a Saraswat Brahmin Nadkarni family and begins with the video bio-data of 22-year-old Vidula, the youngest daughter. She is shot by her brother Rohit for her prospective NRI groom. Their elder sister Hema, settled in Australia, joins in for the wedding celebrations soon. Along with them is their father – who lives his life remembering his dead brother, the mother who remains harrowed throughout and the domestic help, Radha bai, who adds a sub-plot to the tale.

In between the preparations for Vidula’s wedding, there are snapshots of the melodrama that takes place in almost every household. Comedy, therefore, is not infused in the play but evolves from real life occurrences such as the banter between the lady of the house and the housemaid; the elder sibling reprimanding the younger to work and the man of the house giving a philosophical take on every problem.
 
This ethos is portrayed well by the actors until the latter half of the play where the NRI boy Chandrakant gets to deliver a sermon on the modern America and culturally-rooted India. Rather than encapsulating this and other such elements, the directors go the entire length of staging each and every bit, thus making the play unnecessarily long.

It is captivating to see the real-life family drama switching from past to present and vice versa, in a slick manner. The quick change of scenes holds the audience throughout the two hour, ten minute-duration. But what stands out is Radha bai’s endearing act and Vidula’s alternating avatar. As Radha bai, the actor lifts the entire plot and highlights the role of domestic workers in our homes. On the other hand, the scene showing Vidula with her virtual lover revives the long ongoing debate on moral policing and one’s right to behave as one wishes.

Though one would be tempted to relate these theatrics to cinema, such as in Moonsoon Wedding, the reality is, it is all about ‘The Great Indian Wedding’ – nothing new yet striking.