“Lipstick Ki Muskaan”: Natrang’s Stirring Depiction of Modern Parenthood and Human Values
Jammu 23-06-2024: Natrang presented a new Hindi play ‘Lipstick Ki Muskaan’ written by Vishnu Prabhakar and directed by Neeraj Kant here today at Natrang Studio Theatre, Jammu under Natrang’s weekly theatre series ‘Sunday Theatre’. Rita, a proponent of Western civilization- a mother of a young child is totally detached to him. One day when Aaya was getting ready for a play audition, her baby runs up to her and clings which spoils her dress. Furious over this incident she scolds everyone including her husband and tells him that these days there is no need to have children at all. In modern times there is even no need for marriage either. After Rita leaves, Rakesh reveals that their son is being brought up by their maid (Aaya) which is not acceptable to Rita. Rita intends to send her son to an orphanage and for that she looks for occasions to oust Aaya. Following this, Arya is thrown out and the child finds a place in an orphanage. Rita never wanted to shoulder any responsibility and to seek freedom from this, she did all this. Depressed over the developments, Rakesh (Husband) falls ill. Rita instead of helping and supporting him, approaches the health service providers to take him from there terming that he is suffering from a contagious disease that requires complete isolation.
On the other hand when Aya (Maid) comes to know that the poor child has been sent to an orphanage, she complains the same to the Police. The play beautifully portrays the decaying human values and relationships in the name of Westernisation and modernity. Rita is a very ambitious girl and like the western world she thinks that it is the responsibility of the state to bring up the child. But when life takes a turn, she realizes that it’s the mother who is responsible to bring up the child. The emotional vacuum forces her to realise the value and importance of relationships. The artists who performed in the play included; Vrinda Gujral, Kushal Bhat, Payal Khanna, Sanna Devi, Lalita Sharma and Mehak Chib. Lights were designed and operated by Neeraj Kant. Priya Kashyap scored the music of the play and also did presentations and the show was coordinated by Brijesh Avtar Sharma.
