Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Naseeruddin Shah Show!!

Date: 4th January, 2009
Venue: CSJM University
Monologue: Ismat Appa ke Naam

The monologue was presented by Naseer, Ratna Pathak Shah i.e. his wife and Neeba shah, their daughter. It comprised of three short stories by Ismat Chugtai. Ismat Appa was an Indian Urdu writer known for her controversial and remarkable stories. The stories presented were "chui mui" i.e. Touch me Not, "Ghunghat" and "Gharwali". The stories were presented in an amazing manner, really. I attended a Monologue for the first time. I admired the story Ghunghat and most importantly admired the way Ratna Pathak Shah presented it to the audience. I had heard Ismat Chugtai's name earlier but didnt know much about her stories. In fact hadnt read them earlier. This story Ghunghat was really humorous but at the same time had a hidden sadness in it. If you actually sit back and analyze, it had a very tragic end. I just hope it was a fiction and not inspired by any real incidence. In short, this story depicted a guy who was a Mughal and had a black complexion (kaale mia), he got married to a very pretty and specifically a white-complexioned lady (called gori-be). His ego (false, obviously) got hurt on his wedding day after overhearing some remarks about kaale-mia getting married to gori-bi and so he didnt see his wife's face his entire life and at the end died when he was just about to see her.

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