Love can happen anytime, anywhere and with anyone. Fighting against the established norms of the society, Shri Ram Centre staged a play in the heart of the capital which had the theme still unacceptable to audience’s heart.
The event was the performance of ‘A Straight Proposal’ which dealt with topics like love, death, and contradiction in society with darker realities. Directed by Happy Ranajit Singh of ‘BA Pass’ fame, the play exposed the problems of gays in the current India political scenario.
The first scene of the play displays the page:
“The Empty Bar
New York
Page 295 5
th Nov, 2013”
The play gradually moves from the first to the last page involving various LGBT movement in India. Pages of “His Freedom, Upside Down, I couldn’t say, After Death” were some of them. In fact, each page number is an article of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises every single act of a human being in some way or the other.
The play ended with:
“It’s not the End
India
Page 377,
11th Dec 2013”
The play was about a man who searches love all his life but finally dies without it. He leaves behind a diary which reveals all the darker, hidden truth that he went through and the society’s reaction to them. He tried to find love in his father, brother, friend, along with a formal relation with his servant and the school principal but everybody played with his emotions.
The ending scene is thought- provoking which leaves a deep impact on the audience. Teekam Joshi plays the character of Dhruv who wants to publish the protagonist’s diary which is opposed by everybody. They fear how the society will react to it. The publisher says that he confessed to his mother about his love for another man and his mother has accepted it gracefully and is looking forward to meet her son-in-law! But the case is opposite with the protagonist’s friend. His love was not accepted by his family and so, he left his family. However, the school principal is living a dual life. He has wife but she is unaware of her husband’s sexuality. He does not even accept in front of everyone out of embarrassment unlike the other two. On this the publisher says, “No freedom can be gained without responsibility and you have to take that responsibility.”
In this way, the play tackles the complexities of human relationships and talks about social equality and justice for everyone. It was powered by some strong dialogues like when the father is confronted with the truth, he shouts, “As far as I know, there was no girl in his life.” On which, the protagonist’s lover says, “Yes sir, you are right. There was no ‘girl’ in his life. It was me. He wanted to marry me.” Thus, the play ends on a sad note with the father killing his son’s lover.
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