CHENNAI: The practice of blindly sticking to feminist ideals leads a woman to bargain with her own daughter about a sensitive matter that is discovered during the course of the Tamil play, Saswatham. The performance was staged recently at the Narada Gana Sabha, Alwarpet. The Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Group premiered the play to a packed auditorium and the highlight of the play was there were no male characters at all. Anandhi, a nurse, is an all-in-all feminist who brings up her daughter Pooja with great ambitions. They both live in Alli Apartments, a women-only neighbourhood with no men allowed inside. Pooja returns from abroad to attend the wedding of her close friend, Chitra. Though Chitra is city-bred, she marries an agriculturist and settles in a village called Ammangkuppam. Anandi hates Chitra as she is against her beliefs about how a woman should be. However, there is yet another reason which emerges only at the climax. The play starts with an argument between Anandhi and Pooja and the reason is narrated in the flashback. Anandhi wants Pooja’s groom to stay in their house (not move to his) and asks him to pay `5 lakh as fine to the Alli Apartment society — such is her feminist mentality. While the play seemed to dilly dally through most of its duration, the climax was a quick one, unfortunately without a clear message. The director, Bombay Gnanam, should have perhaps polished the story a little more. The actors played their roles perfectly and Pooja’s mother-in-law character was audiences’ favourite.
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