SACHI NAIK | NT BUZZ
Since our childhood we are taught to respect elders and always love them. Parents’ love their children unconditional and they are irreplaceable. However, what has to be done when elders or parents take a wrong step in life? What is to be done when they take decisions favouring the stereotypical beliefs prevalent in the society? Well, tiatr director Sally Mascarenhas throws light on the issues that still remain as the stereotypes in the world in his latest tiatr ‘Maim Paichem Besanv’.
“In Konkani, mother and father are known as ‘Maim’ and ‘Pai’, while, Besanv means blessing,” says Sally explaining the meaning of the title of his tiatr. Sally has portrayed that parents’ blessing is most significant to children. Infact, he has even tried to show that the parents do make mistakes; however, their blessings should not be judged because of their mistakes.
‘Maim Paichem Besanv’ is the story based on the mother-in-law who has two daughters-in-law. She considers social class and status as the priority in life and favours people from a well-to-do background and a differential treatment to poor people. Her elder daughter-in-law belongs to a rich family. The second son falls in love with a girl who works as a servant, and is married against his mother’s will.
One day the mother-in-law gets severely injured in a mishap. Instead of taking care of her mother-in-law, the elder daughter-in-law finds her as a burden and asks her to leave the house. With no other option, the mother-in-law arrives at the residence of her second son. The second daughter-in-law welcomes and takes utmost care of her mother-in-law. She even ensures that the treatment is complete for a speedy recovery. At this time, the mother-in-law regrets for not accepting her second daughter-in-law in the family. Finally she accepts her whole-heartedly and blesses her.
“There is still a twist in the tale at the end. Here, the elder daughter-in-law plays a major role. It is suspense and I feel people should watch tiatr to enjoy this twist,” says Sally.
Most of the tiatrists prefer to convey a message to youngsters to respect their elders especially their parents. While Sally has conveyed a message to elder’s too that they may not be always right. Sally has presented through his tiatr that even elders can make mistakes which they should rectify just the way youngsters are asked to do. Sally says: “The message conveyed through this tiatr is about discrimination on the basis of social class, background, status, etc. No person should discriminate anyone on the basis of their financial status and background, as it certainly does not describe the character of the person.”
Sally has made an attempt to break stereotypes of the relation between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law by presenting the same relation differently. “It is common to see a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law fight over petty issues but in my tiatr, ‘Maim Paichem Besanv’, I have presented these two relations differently. It is not necessary to find the two of them fighting but if both understand each other, accept their mistakes and rectify it, then everything works smoothly, just like any other relation.”
“I feel that some mothers-in-law are commanding and dominating. They want their sons and daughters-in-law to obey whatever they say. If the daughter-in-law has made a mistake, then the mother-in-law holds the right of correcting her. However, a mother-in-law should also understand that the couple needs to have freedom too and her principles should not be forced upon them. On the other hand, if the daughter-in-law makes any mistake and her mother-in-law identifies it, she should understand and rectify her mistake. She should not create unnecessary fuss to prove herself right,” says Sally.
He adds that every person makes mistakes and they should rectify it when corrected, rather than proving themselves right and continuing the wrong path. Sally comments: “This tiatr also portrays how some families accept the rich bride whole heartedly, while regret having a poor bride in the family.”
Sally is a comedian who believes that a tiatr cannot be run without adding comedy in it. “It is obvious that tiatr is about the story and plot, but tiatr is also about comedy. The story and comedy run parallel. People get bored if there is no comedy in between the story. Funny jokes in tiatr are a form of entertainment for tiatr lovers,” he says.
There are nine kaantaras and five caants in ‘Maim Paichem Besanv’. “Kaantaras are written by the singers while caants are written by Rosario de Benaulim.” With a very few senior artists in Sally’s tiatr, he has decided to give opportunity to the upcoming tiatr artists.
This is Sally’s eighth production and he is willing to entertain public with many more stories. He says: “When I started as a director, I just came up with one tiatr every year. Now I come up with two tiatrs annually. I have formed my own troupe that works for me during the winter season tiatr and Easter season tiatr.” Sally says that he always aspired to write tiatr scripts and he is happy that he began his career as a writer and director despite being a comedian.
Sally says: “Most of the shows of ‘Maim Paichem Besanv’ will be staged in villages this time. One needs to have a star cast to attract crowd at auditoriums in cities. No doubt there is more income at auditoriums, but due to the cost of auditorium and professional actors, the budget is high. On the other hand, village shows can be arranged with lesser budget and attracts a huge crowd. However, less income is generated with village shows.”
(The show of ‘Maim Paichem Besanv’ will be held on December 25 at Verna and December 26 at Goa Velha,
both at 7.30 p.m.)