Nandita Das’ play Between the Lines, which was staged in Dubai on February 21, is all about stereotypes and the daily drama that unfolds in some contemporary urban Indian households. It’s about unrelenting male chauvinism and determined feminism where, finally, a bit of understanding brings a sense of order in a couple’s disturbed life.
The play is riveting with witty retorts and some excellent lines that make us reflect on our own lives. It was a delight to see Das on stage where she brings out the emotions with ease. Maskara, her real-life husband who makes his debut in professional theatre, has matched his acting skills with the renowned actress.
Minimal props, mood-setting lighting and excellent acoustics made the play at Ductac, Dubai, this weekend, a memorable experience.
Maya (Das) and Shekhar (Subodh Maskara), who studied at the same law school, have been married for more than a decade. While Shekhar is a successful criminal lawyer, Maya, a gold medallist, balances work and life.
Life goes smoothly for the couple, with Maya sharing the joy of her husband’s success as a lawyer and Shekhar doting on his multi-tasking wife as the mother of their son Arjun, who is staying in a hostel for his studies, and a homemaker who drafts routine contracts for a law firm.
As a trick of fate, both Maya and Shekhar are pitted against each other in a case that unsettles their lives. Maya takes up the case of Kavita, who is accused of a premeditated attempt to kill her husband, Mukesh, little knowing that Shekhar is Mukesh’s counsel.
The defendant, a middle-class woman, takes the extreme step of shooting her abusive husband (or was she contemplating to shoot herself?) vexed with his constant beatings.
Egos come to the fore as Shekhar cannot imagine losing a case, of all people, against his wife, while Maya is determined to defend her client, which results in the blurring of their personal and professional lives.
The case, in which Maya and Shekhar empathetically double up as Kavita and Mukesh, begins to put their personal relationship on trial. Maya sees similarities between herself and Kavita, who got used to her husband’s beatings. She finds herself no different though she is well-educated and affluent.
Predictably, Maya wins the case and, though difficult for him to digest the fact that he lost to his wife who has been a novice all these years, Shekhar has to eat humble pie.
