Shabana Azmi shines in Girish Karnad’s Broken Images

Girish Karnad’s Broken Images was staged at Kala Academy on 9^th February as part of Unique Plays, a 3 day theatre festival, held between 8^th and 10^th of February, at Kala Academy. Of the four plays presented by the Sadir Cultural Association, Dona Paula, Broken Images was the only one written and performed in English. Written by Girish Karnad and directed by Alyque Padamsee this is one play that is unique, indeed.

Manjula Sharma is not a very successful Hindi short-story writer. She suddenly becomes wealthy and internationally famous by writing a best-seller in English. The question haunting Manjula is, whether in opting for the global audience she has betrayed her own language and identity. Now, without warning, it’s her own “image” that decides to play confessor, psychologist and inquisitor.

The play is a psychological thriller that rips the mask off a celebrity. The twenty-first century is the age of the electronic image. From every corner of our world, electronic images fling themselves at us, entertaining, educating, enticing & offering us a virtual world. Manjula’s personal nightmare is reflected in a series of electronic images of her own self.

That’s right this play stars one actor and one alone. We see Shabana Azmi play the part of Manjula Sharma, interacting with a pre-recorded video of herself playing another side to the same character; a simple enough idea but difficult to execute for it calls for precision from the actor in question. For one, there is no room for improvisation and there are tremendous constraints on the actor’s movement on stage and timing of speech. Yet Ms. Azmi pulled it off flawlessly. She was brilliant; intense, moving and completely convincing. Her performance got a 5 min standing ovation from theatre enthusiasts all over Goa who had braved the Carnaval traffic to come and see her.

Broken Images  is one play that will be remembered for its revolutionizing technique as well as for the thought provoking questions it raises; What is language to us?, What is the real relationship between author and critic?, Does art plagiarise life?- these are just some of the concerns voiced in the play. Staying true to his nature as a playwright, Karnad doesn’t provide the answers; instead, he is content leaving us to come up with more questions

“A good play entertains. A great play opens windows in your mind through which you see the past and the future in one continuum” says director Alyque Padamsee, and Broken Images does not disappoint.