Papa Aap Jhooth bolte Hain!!!

In Utaran Tapasya is going through a phase of turmoil.
She feels insecure because her parents are showering love on Ichchha. She is jealous, so to speak.
The parents (Jogi and Divya) notice it and they decide to talk to her.
They want her to know that they truly love her. And there is no question of dividing their love between Tapasya and Ichchha. They say that they are really concerned and want to change her behaviour.

So they sit with her. They express their love and concern and assure her that they really mean what they say.

But…

“Papa bhi jhooth bolte hain

Mummy bhi..”

What do they really want?

To understand the hurt and pain of daughter?....... I doubt. Their actions don’t match their words.
To correct her behaviour?..... Yes, but…
To convince her to do what they want her to do? Be a PAPA-MUMMY’s good girl. A big yes and no but!!

On the surface they appear to be transparent and honest and really talking from heart. But even they don’t know why their subconscious is making them to do certain things.
So we have Tapasya convinced and the next morning papa gives her an award for her good behaviour.

And what is this so called good behaviour?

She apologizes Damini Ammu and Ichchha for her bad behaviour and asks them to stay in haveli !! This is what good girls do. Behave as their parents want them to!!

“So here is gift for you baby…one for you and one for Ichchha. But today you can pick up the best.” Says Jogi. Tapasya does not feel happy or convinced. She reluctantly picks up one.. any one.

Kids do read the faces. That’s how they learn to imitate, live and survive. And they are not always convinced by the truth told by parents. They listen to the text and decode the subtext. How it happens I don’t know. But kids are more intelligent than we imagine them to be.

If parents are really sincere in addressing the problems of the children then they need to talk to themselves first.

Let’s look at what is happening in the minds of parents.

Jogi is hurt because his image of a good daughter is shattered.

And Divya is hurt because she sees her reflection in Tapasya.

But Jogi doesn’t tell himself…

“Image is just an image- a static dead thing! Daughter is a living entity. She will change.”

It happens in love also. We fall in love and fall out of it when we find the person and the image are 2 different things. We don’t correct our image. We start blaming the person….

“You have changed!!”

Divya also does not look inside. Probably she does not have it in her… the insight to introspect. I am convinced that Divya we see now is just a mask. The real old Divya is still there… Only her outer shell is crippled.

Text and subtext are two different things. And the responsibility of actors and directors is to give life to the subtext. I would love to see both the Jogis and Divyas in one scene. Then the complexity and drama will reach to a different level.

I have read about Amrish Puri having done it successfully in a Hindi play, Raktpushp. It’s a small role if one counts the number of lines. (And I have heard stories of actors refusing roles by counting the lines.) The play is about conflict of a growing up daughter and a mother going through menopause. Father is just a witness… But when the playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar saw Late Amrish Puri’s performance, he was amazed to see the way Amrish had brought life into the subtext of the play. The character of father suddenly became much more important than what it appeared in the script.

To sum it up…

Story is a skeleton for the screenplay..
Screenplay is a skeleton for the dialogue script.
And the final script is again a skeleton for the actors.
Going beyond the lines can bring depth to the scene.

Coming back to what I was writing about.

When we write such scenes we should have the truth of the character in mind.

When Jogi and Divya talk to their daughter honestly and straight from the heart, I see the lies in their truth. And I am sure Tapasya also sees it clearly. Politics is not the bapauti of adults. Children are also political animals without voting rights.

So Tapasya is right when she says

“Papa aap jhooth bolte hain…
Mummy aap jhooth bolti hain..”

P. S.

When I shared this post with my first reader, Pratishtha Durga from colors, she wrote:

Anil, I am reminded of this line from the old show Khandaan... It was spoken by the Late Jalal Agha. "Wohh mat karo jo bade karte hain, woh karo, jo bade kehte hain."

I loved that show. It acknowledged the dark realms of the human psyche. It acknowledged that we lie. That there are two selves. That's what Jogi and Divya need to understand. And then they will be able to address the truth and win back the trust of their daughter. Or else...

Tapasya won't grow up into a Divya or a Jogi. She will grow up into another complex entity, the dark realm being fed on the real and perceived lies of her parents and all those around her. And what life would she be equipped for? A life of manipulation and deciet, perhaps. Can we blame her? In an older post, you discussed how our parents mould us, make us who we are. And Tapasya's mould is ready. It doesn't look pretty, does it?