Naveen Kumar Mehta

Image of Contemporary Society in the Plays of Asif Currimbhoy

Asif Currimbhoy holds a prominent status amongst the Indian dramatists who have made substantial contribution to the Indian drama. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar rightly states, “Variety and Versatility are the other obvious distinguishing 'marks' of Asif Currimbhoy as a dramatist. There are one act plays like The Clock and the Refugee, two act plays like Goa and The Doldrummers, three act plays like Inquilab and four act plays like Sonar Bangla, Farce, Comedy, Melodrama, tragedy, history, fantasy – Currimbhoy handles them with an easy assurance.”(244) Peter Nazareth appreciates him for writing “Good plays out of the events that boggle the moral imagination.”(13) Once he himself commented regarding the multiplicity of themes in his plays, "Good theatre does not ..... depend upon language or geography: rather it depends upon inherent situations, and of course, conflict....... Some people tend to confuse conflict with controversy. They can be alike and different. If genuine conflict gives rise to honest difference in opinion, the controversy is justified as provocation to thought, on the other hand, if a controversy is generated on showmanship or sensationalism, it goes without saying that it will be self-defeating and unsubstantive. (43) His plays like, The Dolddrummers (1960) , Thorns on a Canvas (1962) , The Hungry Ones (1965) , and The Miracle Seed  (1973) are based upon social and political themes.
The Dolddrummers was written in 1960 and was first staged in 1969 but it was barred by the state censors. The word Dolddrummers was coined by Currimbhoy and is very evocative. Faubion Bowers refers to it as a “clever word coined by Currimbhoy to indicate the doldrums which settle over a group of his young people to have not worked for a year of Sundays, who live in a shack on the fashionable Juhu Beach in the suburbs of metropolitan Bombay. They are too close to reality to live the life of the imagination and their idealism has turned to cynicism.” The characters are drawn from the masses. The play deals with the group of young men and women - Tony, Joe, Rita and Liza. Tony who plays guitar is "as brainless as banana”. Joe an intellectual, a Ph.D. or would be Ph.D., he emerges to be a philosopher who is trying to “reach out to ideas”.
Rita is a pretty character and likes to be loved. Liza likes Tony. But when Rita identifies that Liza has presented a watch to Tony, she becomes jealous of Liza. Rita who is very possessive of Tony, tries to draw his attention, decides to procure gifts so that she can keep Tony under her possession. As the play advances, we discover that Tony is very upset due to Rita's affairs with uncle Lollipop. He behaves rudely and ignores her presence. Rita tells Liza that she is carrying Joe’s baby. She started feeling guilt and tried to commit suicide but saved. At a later stage of the play, we come to know that it is Joe who commits suicide ultimately. Tony recognizes the true essence of relationships and that is why he sings –
                                 "Cause I understand
                                  ‘cause I understand... "
M. K. Naik observes, “if on the one hand, he has most sensitively captured the life of Shack Dwellers in all its poverty and squabbles, its love and small joys, he has equally successfully portrayed their basic humanity ...... It is merely a sensitive and sympathetic study of the shack dwellers with regard to there mutual relations. And that, indeed is a plus point in favour of the playwright, for aren’t the shack dwellers motivated mainly by two fundamental requirements of the body, food and sex? They act by their stings, albeit one of them, Rita who cares more for love then for even her personal comforts."
Thorns of a Canvas was an outcome of the reaction against the banning of The Dolddrummers. The play is a lampoon on the art academics. A well established Man who is also the state patron of the Academy has a beautiful daughter Malti who was trained at the Ecole de beau Arts and wishes to establish her own studio theatre. The father and the daughter one day meet by chance Yakub with a rose who is a vile person seated with Nafeesa who is not beautiful. The patron throws coins into the air and the young man rushes for them. Malti is attracted by Yakub's charms. She notices his activities with inquisitiveness who is bursting the bubbles with the thorn on the stem rose. She moves towards him to get hold of the rose but unfortunately she is hurt because the thorn pierces into the fingers and she yells. The rose fell down and Yakub and Nafeesa laugh, she is so scared and she sits peacefully on her chair.
Yakub helps Malti to organize the exhibition of her paintings. But Malti is disillusioned with her father when his motives are exposed. She goes with Yakub to watch live performance where she is enthralled by the performance of the dancers. She succumbs to Yakub. But unfortunately, one day when she visits Yakub she is shocked to see Nafeesa near Yakub. She is deeply hurt by the rejection. She realizes that life is not a bed of roses. Malti is entangled between father and Yakub (Bukay) and Yakub between Nafeesa and Malti and finally he gives up Nafeesa.
The Hungry One (1965) delineates that love and hunger are beyond human control. It exposes the Western inability to understand the great mystery and wonder that India has inherited. Two American poets, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky tour Calcutta, which is surrounded by hunger, poverty and affected by communal riots. The Americans before departing witness riots, loot, violence, hunger, traffic jams in the city of Calcutta. Razia, the victim of cruel fate, implores American tourists to help her out from miserable condition.
The play exhibits the real life like scenes of poverty, starvation and famine. Baggers, prostitutes, and brothel agents are seen wandering like honey bees.. The vices of lust and trading in the flesh of the poor and hopeless in the contemporary society like Calcutta are portrayed in a satirical manner. The drama narrates the bare dismay of the famine, the ruthlessness of society and the psychological and superstitious disposition of the society. He depicts the life and tension of the poor and the middle class people Asif Currimbhoy provides the stark reality of life and it is this realism that lends a special significance to the social background to his dramas. He presents the sense of adjustment and reconciliation so that a utopian form of the society can be put into reality.
The Miracle Seed (1973) affirms the faith of people in resurrection and life. The play represents an unforgettable story of drought in Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujrat, Orrisa, Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country. The play is a story of a family consisting of grand father, father Ram, mother and daughter Savitri. For two consecutive years the monsoon does not live up to the expectations of the masses and that resulted into draught, famine followed by relief works launched by the government. It compels the prosperous farmers to become stone breakers and migrate from their native places. Suddenly cousin Laxman comes from the city, he brings “Miracle seeds” which provide Savitri quick relief from her vocal deficiencies. Even in the adverse circumstances Malti was able to water a small patch of land. To the surprise of others when her family is ready to leave for refugee camps, Savitri brings hybrid stalks then her outburst and it reflects that she is completely cured from her stammering.
Our male dominated conservative society does not provide ample scope for persons like Savitri or Malti but here in this story, Savitri's efforts are not futile rather she attains success in her endeavours. She is a natural character, far away from pomp and show. She knows her weaknesses and wants to work upon them. Her character reflects Asif Currimbhoy’s practical approach towards the victims of natural calamities. It appears that Asif Currimbhoy is quite successful in describing the tragic scenes of migration and aftermath effects of it on the denizens. His characters suffer a lot but they do not loose their coolness and calmness. They know their responsibilities, duties and importance in the society. They are concerned about their social obligations and crave to involve in the wheel of life.

 

 

Works Cited

Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. “The Dramatic Art of Asif Currimbhoy”. Indo-English Literature, ed. K.K. Sharma. Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977

Nazareth, Peter, "Asif Currimbhoy; Dramatist of the Public Event", The Journal of Indian Writing in English Literature, II June, 1976

Currimbhoy, Asif, "A Personal view of Indo-English Drama", Indian Drama, ed. H.H. Anniah Gowda. Mysore: Prasaranpa, 1976

Bowers, Faubion ,"Introduction: The Complete works of Asif Currimbhoy New Delhi: Oxford and I.B.H. Publishing House, 1970

Naik, M. K. (ed.), Aspects of Indian Writing in English. Madras: MacMillan India Ltd., 1979