Bravely fought the queen by Mahesh Dattani

"Bravely fought the queen", a play, by Mahesh Dattani. This book is published by Penguin India  in 2006 and has 100 pages. My father gave me a copy to read. 

Dolly and Alka, sisters, are married to Jiten and Nitin, brothers. One day Lalitha, wife of their employee, Sridhar, comes to their house. A number of unspoken things and secrets are revealed. 

Who is Praful? Who is Daksha? Why is Baa upset?  What are the secrets?

It's a strange story. A number of unrelated things are revealed to the reader as the story moves on. The revelations do not make sense until the end. The last dialogue brings forth the truth for the audience.

A mentally and physically challenged  young child who appears only in reference, married women's fantasy, a manipulative brother who never makes an appearance, impractical brothers, Baa's diatribe and wondering and uncomprehending couple form he cast of the play. 

Unique thing about this play is that Act 1 and Act 2 happen at the same time. In Act 1 we see what happens at the residence and in Act 2 we see what happens in office at the same time. Another unique thing is Baa's dialogues withsome one  that happen independently but are blended with ongoing scene. Baa appeares in the background of both scenes i.e. Home and office. 

When you read a play, the characters and their relations with other characters are not explained by author like in a novel. Audience comes to know them through dialogues. Here the things take eternity to untangle. 

When I started to read the play, I wondered what was the significance of the title. It then became clear that is has the reference to the famous poem about Rani of Jhansi that says 'Khoob ladi mardani who to Jhansi wali rani thi'. 

This play touches a number of subjects like suppressed emotions, wife abuse, homosexuality, infidelity, deceit  etc.  

Mahesh is a Sahitya Akadami award winner. He is also a director and owner of theater. Mahesh's plays are known to portray women as victims. This play is no exception. Here every woman is a victim. This play was first staged in 1991.

Some plays are interesting to read and watch. Some are more interesting to watch than read. This play falls in the later catagory. I have not watched this play on stage. With a good director, it's a powerful play of suppressed emotions and desires.  

Watch the play rather than reading the book.