The Indian Reporter
October 2005
Living Dead Inspire The Masrayana – Devi Bhaduri
BY DEVI BHADURI
CHICAGO. If staring at a computer monitor all day leaves you feeling lifeless, get your blood pulsing again by checking out the Rasaka Theatre Company’s The Masrayana.
In conjunction with the Prop Thtr, Rasaka presents this play about an Indian farmer (Gopal Masra) who finds himself on a unique quest to prove to authorities that he is in fact alive. Based on a true story, The Masrayana takes identity theft—a modern, usually technology-induced predicament—and sets it in humble surroundings: a rural Rajasthani village where bribery seems the primary mode of interacting with government officials.
After learning that he has been betrayed by both friend and family, Masra realizes that as a “dead” man, he can no longer possess property or be employed. Unable to feed his family, he stumbles across India for two decades, testing loopholes in the legal system in a desperate attempt to reclaim his identity and his life.
Rasaka’s talent shines in its first production. The three leads, Bobby Zaman (Gopal Masra), Anita Chandwaney (Navi Masra), and Barnali Das (Darvati Samapur), carry the tale with skill. Their characters are torn by conflicting desires to love and to survive, but humor infused throughout the narrative brings to the audience a feeling of balance. Mark Rita (Gopal’s throaty lawyer) delivers his lines with a dignity and poise that contrast comically with his character’s legal ineptitude.
As the drama of Gopal’s quest unfolds, The Masrayana is beautifully accented by Nikhil Trivedi’s sitar music. Trivedi, like an extravagant prop, accompanies the play from a picture-perfect perch above the stage. And dance numbers courtesy of Chitrahar Cultural Academy and dancers Alka Nayyar and Anita Thawani underscore both the joy and the peril Gopal lives through. In a dance of the living dead, the cast takes the form of eerie spectral figures sweeping across the stage through dim red light.
The Masrayana is based on the story of Lal Bihari, an Uttar Pradesh farmer who discovered that he was legally dead when he applied for a loan in 1975. His uncle had needed only to pay two bribes, one to get a death certificate and one to transfer his nephew’s land to his own name. Bihari eventually founded “Mritak Sangh,” or the Association of the Dead, which now has over 20,000 members.
The Masrayana, written by William Kovacsik and directed by Anish Jethmalani, is playing at the Prop Theatre and will continue through October 23 (_ed. PLEASE NOTE: This review was written prior to the show’s extension. Show has been extended to October 30, 2005!!_).