Centennial: The child, the adults and their hypocrisy

Manto’s short story comes to life in a play performed at PNCA.

ISLAMABAD:

Set in a shantytown of Mumbai, “Das Rupay” follows paan-chewing neighbours who snoop on each other and pass jibes at each other, even each has skeletons in the closet. The play, performed at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) on Wednesday evening, did well to bring Sadat Hasan Manto’s short story to life.

One woman is having an affair with her milkman, while her neighbour next door uses her young beautiful daughter, Sarita, as a prostitute. Sarita, still not a complete adult, fritters her time playing outside with other children and treats her dire situation with nonchalance. Her excitement over hearing that she will get to sit in a luxury car is heart-wrenching, when her mother tells her to get ready for some clients.

The second part of the short play revolves around a grand room, where three men bring Sarita over to entertain themselves. The girl takes the rich opulent lifestyle and the finely dressed men in her stride as she entertains them about stories of her life. As the night goes by, the three men become drunker by the second. Sarita, too, as she is convinced by her clients that alcohol is a medicine that kills worms in the stomach.

Interestingly enough, the three men treat her with courtesy as they laugh and play along with her. One of them even hands her Rs10 as a gift, and promises her to let her have his niece’s doll that she desperately wants, as her neighbour, and friend, has two dolls and she has none.

One by one as each man passes out drunk Sarita is given a separate room to sleep in. But when she happily picks up the doll that was promised to her, the man in his drunken state pushes her and insults her character stating that someone ‘like her’ shouldn’t be touching his innocent niece’s dolls. This brings the young courtesan crashing back to her bitter reality. She throws the Rs10 back at the man, stating “jab kuch kiya hee nahi toh paisay kiss liye” (why should I charge you when I haven’t rendered any services) before walking away.

The characters sometimes went a little over the top as they tried to portray the grey shades of life and reality. However director and actor, Sabir Khan, did complete justice to his role as he played the drunk hypocrite to a T – someone who readily brings in a young girl for his and his friends entertainment, but refuses to part with an inexpensive doll for the girl.

The play has plenty of underlying dark tones that had many in the audience thinking twice about judging others. It was organised by the PNCA in collaboration with the Ministry of National Heritage and Integration for Manto’s centennial celebrations. The PNCA has scheduled three plays over three days the celebrate the prominent short story writer for his services to literature.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2012.