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
Cast: Stimit Sane, Mayank Patankar, Sameer Diwakar, Bramha Hande
Produced By Nikhil Chinchkar, Anil Gherade, Ajay Shirsath
Dramaturgy: Sandeep Deshpande
Assistant director & Stage Manager: Mohish Bhamray
Sound Operation: Manas Joglekar
Organ instrument player: Rajas Apte
Table: Atharva Jagdale
Light Operation: Sahil Waikar
Make-up: Arvind SuryaSubtitles: Hitesh Tiwari
Backstage: Asmi Deokule, Vrajeysh Rokade
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.