Maa Retire Hoti Hai

I had the fortune of watching the premiere of the play “Maa Retire Hoti hai” starring Jaya Bachchan.

This was in Dubai, and there was no chance in the world that i could even dream of attending this, and not just because I couldn’t afford it.

I had the fortune of seeing a lot of Hindi plays in Dubai.  Almost all the popular Hindi film personalities preferred performing there both because of the money as well as the more relaxed atmosphere there.   If you attended one play you would know.

The crowd mostly - unlike in Mumbai or Delhi was mainly those making an appearance or just excited to see a bollywood star, so mobiles were never switched off. It was like a wedding banquet hall, people walking around meeting folks, stepping out for a drink or a smoke (sometimes lighting up within the theatre). People pulled chairs to sit in a circle or close to their friends family.  

It was just terrible.

I got to see Pooja Bhatt, Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal in their forgettable versions there, and they all knew.  You almost had the impression they didnt care and knew the audience definitely didnt.

When the Jaya Bacchan play was announced there were no takers within my office or immediate social circle.  It was a premiere, and the prices were steep- I think three to four times the regular prices for a play (which were a luxury anyway).

One of my Mumbai circle who had moved to Dubai had run out of her regular social circle attendees and had asked me if I would join her mentioning the date.  I told her I was free on that day but there was noway I wanted to spend that kind of money.  

Closer to the date she called me and asked me to join her as she’d got the tickets and all her friends couldn’t join or were traveling. I was happy - except when she added “Satish you need to wear something formal, either national wear or a formal suit/ jacket”.

She wore a jacket made by Ritu Kumar (I think, but one of the big names) that she’d bought when she’d been to India last.  While I managed to put my regular jacket that I wore for office meetings.   It was a posh gala in one of the seven+ star hotels in Dubai which was usually not where Indian plays or events took place.   There was event management in full place - we were even photographed as we entered.  Most of the crowd had a-listers including industrialists from South Mumbai who had flown in for this evening especially.

But all my unease with this Hi-So vanished once the play began.

“Maa Retire Hoti Hai” was a play performed for nearly three decades and was a super hit in Mumbai with both Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi versions.  The lead star was always someone very strong and legendary in Mumbai’s Natya Rangmanch. (world of theatre). So Jaya Bachchan had a tough act to follow, but most of the crowd didnt know or cared.

the play set around the 60s-70s was about how a freedom fighter, social activist and feminist leader has become so family devoted (after Independence) that her family is completely dependent on her. She was an author earlier but now worked as a school teacher. But as her children grow and start their own families they want to move out - one out of the country too.  She is alarmed and decides she needs to get back to here social causes and informs her family she’s retiring out of family life and they need to manage on their own.

The head of the family was supposed to be played by one of the leading theatre actors who dropped out of the last minute and instead the director had stepped in.  The entire supporting cast was fabulous especially another veteran Priti Khare who was a familiar name in doordarshan TV and local plays.

During the two hours one saw a transformation across all of them as they start taking on the responsibilities that the Mother has abdicated, as she eventually moves out of home to start her social work.  The highpoint in the play was when her daughter comes back home for her first pregnancy - the same girl who had eloped with a boy from another community.

The star of the play was of course jaya bachchan who was very under-stated and not the usual loud, melodramatic but in complete dignity throughout the play - this was long before she joined politics, but if you saw this play it sounded close to real life.

We moved out after the play immediately as the audience moved into High-so mode (since they couldn’t do it as everyone came in… fashionably late).  But we knew the play was a success as almost everyone we know were calling up home to talk to their mothers… :-)))