The play ‘My Mother, The Gharwali, Her Maalak, His Wife’ on the 16th of June was attended by more than 350 people at Balgandharv Rang Mandir at Pune.  The play is a joint venture of SANGRAM & VAMP, Sangli and Point of View, Mumbai and of course Open Space, -the youth & civil society initiative of Centre for Communication and Development Studies, Pune.

The play is set in a red light area Basti weaving in narratives about harassment by police as well as local goons, deceitful customers taking advantage of the women, stigma and discrimination faced by children of women in prostitution and also transgender persons. The play also highlighted the celebration of life by women in prostitution amid all the adversities through dance and music sequences. All these pointed to larger questions and debates surrounding sex trade such as violation of human rights, legalizing prostitution, ‘morality’ and also challenged some of the popular perceptions about women in prostitution being evil, wanton, loose and devoid of any human emotions.

A discussion was facilitated after the play. Women’s rights activist Meena Saraswati Seshu, director of the play, Sushama Deshpande, Project coordinator of VAMP Shashikant Mane and the entire cast and crew of the play responded to comments and questions raised by the audiences.

Some of the questions referred to the usage of theatre (music and dance) as a medium to raise/explore an issue like prostitution and questioned whether it trivializes the issue? The cast and the director responded in the negative saying that theatre according to them was the most powerful medium to explore the issue of prostitution for several reasons. They said negotiating with customers, arguing with goons, battling against the police and song and dance - all are part and parcel of their lives which can be experienced only through theatre.They mentioned that that illiteracy and various linguistic backgrounds the women has been a major challenge but expressed happiness that the purpose of the play was also to entertain and they have been successful in achieving it.

Many members from the audience came forward to laud the initiative of the women and all supporting organizations for providing a platform for such an issue. Though there were different responses to the content and / or the message coming out of the play, the unanimous reaction was that it was a great effort to communicate on an important issue with the civil society.