Sakharam Binder

This past Friday, about the same time Pramod was having a great time at Sachin's, I also had a Tendulkar experience of my own... but of a different kind.

I watched the performance of Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder, performed by 'The Play Company' of New York. The cast was mostly native (except Sarita Chowdhury who played Champa and Sanjeev Jvheri in a small role). The play was translated by Kumud Mehta and Shanta Gokhle and was directed by Maria Mileaf.

The performance was in a very small theatre, that had only 13 rows. It is part of the 59th Street Theatre Foundation Building. The building hosts the offices of this foundation and two or three small theatres. Each theatre seats at best approx. 150 people. But they have a small stage, and the necessary lighting arrangements. There was no curtain. It reminded me of Sneh-sadan in Pune except that there was more than one theatre in this building. But the feel was very similar. A small performance for those who are willing to find out about it. There were no billboards, no advertisements outside the theater either.

I could not help but imagine (read dream) such a building (a small multiplex for theatre performances if you will) in Pune. It will be so perfect for the many amateur theater groups in that city.

The performance started at around 8.15 PM and ended at 11.00 PM... almost three hours. But there were only two acts... I don't remember if the original Marathi play has two or three. With almost no plot, and in a translated format, it must have been a real challenge to keep it interesting for such a long time. But the cast did a really great job of doing so. There was a pin-drop silence during the play and the number of people when the play ended was same as it was when it began. ;) The cast was as follows:

Sakharam Binder: Bernard White
Laxmi: Anna George
Davood Miyan: Adam Alexi-Malle
Champa: Sarita Chowdhury
Fouzdar Shinde: Sanjiv Jhaveri

The performance was very nice... well made... professional... compact... and captivating. The audience was mostly non-Indian and therefore, presumably had no exposure to the play or the playwright prior to this.

I have a few observations that I would like to share:

We often feel that the Indian writers and literature, particularly the modern literature, does not get recognition it is due outside India.

One of the popular reasons given for this is that it (modern Indian literature) deals with the problems that are limited to Indian Context and therefore do not have much of a 'Universal appeal'.

Another reason often stated is that its value is so closely coupled with the language it is originally written in, be it Marathi, Kannada or anything else... that as soon as it is translated it loses its appeal.

Third reason given is that there simply isn't enough awareness about the quality of Indian literature outside India.

This performance of Sakharam Binder, convincingly proved to me that the first two reasons are downright untrue.

If the non-Indian audiences and readers are exposed to the capably translated works of the likes of Tendulkar, G.A. Kulkarni, Khanolkar etc (and this is Marathi alone. There are plenty others in all other Indian languages) I am certain that they will be floored by its content and power. There is no doubt in my mind that the only valid reason for this lack of recognition is the lack of exposure. They don't appreciate it only because they don't know it exists. The tremendous appetite the West has shown for the works of Salman Rashdie, Zumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy et al also speaks to this... (although in my opinion none of these are even close in terms of originality or quality into the Khanolkars and the GAs.) On a side note, it also speaks volumes of prizes like Nobel and how western-civilization-centric they are.

It was very interesting that during the performance, I could actually feel the original Marathi characters thru the English dialogs. It was almost as if I was watching a Marathi play... only the language was English... if you know what I mean. I think it is a tremendous credit to the translators and the actors. The set was also very good. It was a two-room house, one small kitchen and the other room. The cabinets in the wall, the khunti on the wall, the chool, all were very authentic. The stage was really small... perhaps no more than 15' X 20'... but the way they used it was admirable.

Another interesting observation I had, particularly at the beginning of the play, with all those dialogs of complete domination of Laxmi by Sakharam, the abuse, and her total submission... was that it actually made me feel embarrassed... I almost wished there was no non-Indian there... but the feeling subsided gradually... partly because I was engrossed in the play... and partly because I could see that the audience could actually relate to what was happening... and this made me realize the universality in it... the manifestation of the abuse being shown on the stage was indeed Indian...but it was not unique to India.... the international audience could relate to the similar kind of abuse (spousal...if you could call the arrangement between Sakharam and Lakshmi as 'Spousal' or just between a man and woman) that undoubtedly exists in their countries also.

The New York times review of the play summarized the point about the universal appeal in the following way... this should give you some insight into how it appeared to the non-Indian eye and mind.

"Sakharam's tragedy turns out to hinge on his budding social consciousness, his arrested enlightenment. He can see - almost - an idea of equality and shared humanity that transcends individual appetite, but nothing in his life (including the women) ever encourages him to follow its logic. Like Brecht's Mother Courage, he exploits a corrupt system for personal advantage, then discovers that the price of playing the game is everything he hoped to protect. Unlike Brecht, though, Mr. Tendulkar never judges his protagonist but concentrates instead on painting him with unsettling compassion, perceptiveness and thoroughness. His play deserves to be much better known in the United States than it is."

Lastly, regarding the reference a friend of mine made to my "knack of being at times and places one can only be jealous of"... well... thanks for the complements... I think we all have been able to get some very enriching experiences and continue to do so... and in case of all of us, I think it involves a lot of 'being lucky' in it... but it also comes from the fact that once we realize that we could not be happy with the mediocrity, the superficiality, the dishonesty of what gets thrown at us... like the majority of the Bollywood movies... we start making efforts to find what else is out there... and believe that there must be something better somewhere... and then we start finding things... The luck... is always a factor... but not for those who don't make that effort.

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Sakharam Binder copyright © 2007 by Sushrut Vaidya. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No changes or edits in the content of this work or of the digital format are allowed. For information, write Sushrut Vaidya at sushrut.vaidya@gmail.com.