Begum Barve

Marathi play with English subtitles

An NCPA presentation in collaboration with Roti Kapada aur Swag Productions

Begum Barve was first staged in 1979; the process of writing had been evolving gradually over the previous two and a half years. The play features four male characters whose lives intersect in a world shaped by loneliness, memory, and imagination.

Shamrao, a former Tanga driver, once owned a mare named Begum. After a disabling injury to his leg, he is forced to live a dependent and diminished life. Looking after him is Barve, a former actor famous for playing female roles in traditional Marathi theatre. With the decline of that theatrical tradition, Barve now survives by selling incense sticks. The two spend their days in a cramped, shadowy space beneath a staircase, each absorbed in his own existence.

The other two characters, Jawdekar and Bawdekar, are middle-aged clerks employed in a government office. Unmarried and having long passed the expected age for marriage, they maintain a close friendship rooted in the monotony of their routine lives. Both escape into private fantasies: Jawdekar develops a quiet affection for Nalawadebai, a widowed colleague, while Bawdekar dreams of the Collector’s daughter. Unable to act upon their desires in reality, they retreat into daydreams that provide temporary relief from their ordinary lives.

A turning point arrives on a stifling Thursday evening. The oppressive heat, the sweat-soaked atmosphere, the sounds of Dattatreya’s worship-aarti, and the fragrance of the incense sold by Barve combine to create a strange, dreamlike mood. As reality begins to blur, the boundaries between the characters’ fantasies dissolves. Their dreams intermingle, and a poignant yet unsettling struggle unfolds among them.

Throughout the play, the characters’ seemingly ordinary lives become increasingly distorted. Familiar identities shift and transform, exposing hidden desires, frustrations, and vulnerabilities. By the end, the characters seem to fade into the darkness behind the stage curtain, leaving behind a haunting reflection on illusion, longing, and the human need to escape reality.

Written by Satish Alekar

Directed by Gaurav Kanekar

Produced By Nikhil Chinchkar, Anil Gherade

Cast: Stimit Sane, Mayank Patankar, Sameer Diwakar, Bramha Hande

Dramaturgy: Sandeep Deshpande

Assistant director & Stage Manager: Mohish Bhamray

Costume: Pooja Khanolkar

Set: Anil Gherade

Makeup: Arvind Surya

Sound Design: Saket Kanetkar

Lights Design: Sanket Parkhe

Sound Operation: Manas Joglekar

Lights Operation: Sahil Waikar

Organ Instrument player: Rajas Apte

Tabla: Atharva Jagdale

Subtitles: Sagar Dahale, Hitesh Tiwari

Production: Co.Niiti, Prabodhan, Asmi, Vrajesh, Sarakshi, Mukta

Special Thanks: Rajeev Paranjape, Atharva Burse, Suvrat Joshi, Anupam Barve, Anirudha Kuthwad, Deshmukh And Company, Mukt Thetar, The Box, Shunya Shikhar

Box office now open.