In India’s cultural creativeness, the marriage sangeet is a scene of music, camaraderie, and color. What if that very same gathering grew to become a stage for ladies to query expectations and share their truths throughout generations?.
That is the premise of author and director Purva Naresh’s Ladies Sangeet: A Musical Dramedy, which blends music, humour, and social critique. Presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) as a part of its rising cultural programming, the play returns to Delhi-NCR after almost a decade, on August 30 at Apparel House, Gurugram.
The manufacturing by Aarambh Mumbai (based by Purva and Asmit Pathare) options music by Vidushi Shubha Mudgal, Harpreet, Anadi Nagar, and Nishant Aggarwal.
For Purva , the play attracts deeply from her early life within the arts. Trained in Kathak and percussion, she remembers being urged by her gurus to give up wholly to at least one self-discipline. “At home I was encouraged to question and explore,” she says, “but my gurus and institutions always pushed me towards obedience and choosing one form over the other.”
Stills from Ladies Sangeet
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
That spirit of inquiry, formed additional at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune, discovered a voice within the character of Rukmini.
The marriage ceremony backdrop, Purva says, got here naturally. “North India’s fetish for wedding celebrations prompted the theme and the universe of this play.”
Laughter as a lens
What makes Ladies Sangeet distinctive is its mix of humour and seriousness. “Music and humour save the play from becoming heavy-handed,” says Purva , who prefers satire and music as instruments when working in opposition to the favored narrative.
Her characters draw from life —Megha displays her mom’s era, whereas the marriage planner was impressed by a small-town occasion supervisor she as soon as met on tour.
“He kept promising to show me a demo on his ‘lappy’ [laptop] when it was clear he had none. For a while I wondered if he was making an advance,” she laughs.
What started as comedy grew to become a metaphor: “The joke was not on him alone, it was on all of us. He showed how society makes us celebrate our own subjugation with glee.”
Women throughout generations
At its core, Ladies Sangeet is a dialog amongst girls throughout generations — every sturdy in her personal method, every negotiating custom and modernity in another way. For Purva , this was deeply private. “It was tough not to judge them and yet keep them from becoming unidimensional,” she admits.
“I admired and empathised with them because they were brave women — resilient above all, though sometimes less analytical,” Purva says.
Stills from Ladies Sangeet
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The play additionally mirrors her personal tussle between reverence and riot. “As a classically trained dancer and percussionist, I have deep respect for the arts and my gurus. I had to find a balance between unquestioned reverence and informed respect.”
Still related, nonetheless resonant
Nearly a decade on, the themes of Ladies Sangeet stay related. If something, Purva feels weddings have solely grown extra ostentatious. “When last checked, weddings have become bigger, longer, and fantastically ridiculous,” she says.
Social media, she provides, has solely fuelled the urge for food for spectacle. “The only change is that middle-class parents are arm-twisted into organising lavish weddings with fewer guests, so the couple can have more room for friends or a grander celebration.” The rise of ticketed ‘fake weddings’ and sangeet occasions, particularly in Delhi, proves her level.
For KNMA, the manufacturing aligns with its wider cultural mission. “As we expand into new geographies, this presentation is a part of our larger effort to connect with new audiences and to create accessible and thought-provoking encounters with the arts,” highlights Aditi Jaitly, senior curator for performing arts, KNMA.
Theatre’s contract with its viewers
For Purva , theatre stays probably the most highly effective medium to probe such contradictions. “The moment the audience buys a ticket, there’s a contract. They suspend disbelief, and the performer promises a world through imagination. How can it not leave an impact on both parties?” she asks.
Purva Naresh
| Photo Credit:
Neville Sukhia
The influence is obvious within the diversified reactions Ladies Sangeet has evoked — from women being led out of a efficiency in Jhansi by their lecturers to a lady in Delhi returning for a second present with bins of mithai; solely as a result of she felt like a part of the household.
“All these reactions tell us that there is an impact — that they are listening,” says Purva .
The play, scheduled on Aug 30, 7 pm, at Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurugram, Haryana-122022 is for age group 16 and above (for ages beneath, parental steering is suggested). The run time is 120 minutes (plus 15 minute interval). Tickets will be bought on district.in
