Tied up in knots

What venue to pick? How many guests to call? Which saree to wear? What rituals to follow? If you think about it, hosting a wedding reception can be an organisational nightmare that gives people sleepless nights. Tensions run high. Emotions get frayed. Logic gets tossed out of the window. And the lead-up to what is essentially a happy occasion becomes a constant round of tu-tu-main-main between the parents and the child who's tying the knot.

That's the sort of scenario that the plot for a new Hindi play explores. It's called Hamari Neeta ki Shaadi, and the storyline is set over a few hours on the day of the protagonist's haldi ceremony. Neeta, played by Preeta Mathur Thakur, is a headstrong Mumbaikar who's been brought up to think for herself. She has opinions. She minces no words. She'd rather be dead than demure. And God help those who get on the wrong side of her because she'll tear them to pieces before you can say, "Sorry mam, galti ho gayi."

Her parents, on the other hand, are old-fashioned. The mother, Kaveri, has suddenly found her Brijwasi roots anew now that her daughter is about to get married. She envisages a traditional UP wedding. It's her way of connecting with her roots, while her husband, Dashrath, has suddenly rediscovered the merchant in him. "His pockets are getting empty, and he's going completely bonkers over these women spending all his money," says Veena Bakshi, who's written and directed the play that's the 85th offering of Ank, a city-based production house.

What thus follows is the manifestation of a generational gap where the girl wants a wedding that befits a glossy magazine, and the mother wants one that the nanas and phuphas of the family would approve of. "Kaveri gets into this whole frenzy of, 'Yeh waali puja toh honi hi chahiye," while for Neeta, it's more like an event. She's thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm getting married and I'll be wearing all these fabulous clothes.' And one stupid little thing [in the middle of the entire brouhaha] sets the whole tamasha off," Bakshi tells us, adding that the whole thing turns into one crazy event for everyone involved, which is what every marriage on earth invariably boils down to in the end.

On July 13, 5 pm
At Godrej Dance Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.
Log on to bookmyshow.com
Cost Rs 500

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