Doosra

Synopsis

DOOSRA, the Bengali play written by Ratan Kumar Das, based on Evald Flisar’s The Nymph Dies, is an absurd comedy that mocks all our sentimental and illusory notions about ethereal romantic love. Imbued with sarcasm and humour, the play digs deep into the eternal quest of man and woman of all time and space for ideal love and relationship and its consequent pleasure and pain through a series of amusing yet heart-rending unfolding of comical incidents. In doing so, the play assumes an implied similarity with some of the characters of the epic Ramayana and Balmiki as its narrator.
The story of the play revolves around a young couple, newly married, seemingly satisfied with their conjugal life, but only lacking one thing: they have not yet fulfilled their dream of making a dream-like honeymoon as the Boss of the Man reckons it unacceptable. Eventually, a chance comes when the Man is transferred to Dandakaranya for some years, with the Boss accompanying them. The couple is elated, anticipating that they now can enjoy their much-desired honeymoon to the lees.


Consequently, they go and settle in an unknown land, infertile and barren and are confined there year after year, as in an exile and over time, they find their aspiration for an immoral romantic love declining away soon. Their too much closeness and familiarity breeds only bitterness in them, which leads them to conclude that God was not kind to them when he gave them desire.


So being bored and ultimately dissatisfied with things as they are, they start to long for what – could – have – been and take themselves in shelter of an alternative reality of make believe, to get rid of their drag – on weary confinement, where the Woman hallucinates a golden deer and insists the Man to get it. The Man, being puzzled, devises a ploy. Following the advice of the Boss, he takes the disguise of a painter and appears before the Woman. He paints the picture of the golden deer on a canvas and eventually comes closer to her.
The dream comes true, and they are satisfied, but therein is planted the vilest seed of suspicion, as they know and also do not know actually who they are and what their real self and identity is. Things become worse at this point as the Boss intrudes in their life both as a rescuer and an intruder, indulging them in a web of foolish games and frivolity with an apparent promise of getting them rid of their bitterness and boredom. Accordingly, the couple plays, knowing well that they are acting a comedy which can hardly produce heartfelt laughter.
At this complex and queer juncture of their relationship, the Man starts to think that the Boss has a secret relationship with his wife. As doubt begets doubt, the Man persuades him into the matter only for finding out some fragile facts that aggravate his suspicion and frustration, making the man compelled to know the truth, which he has fancied. The struggle between the two gets an unexpected and farcical turn as the Boss, while fleeing to Sri Lanka, meets with a plane crash; but most miraculously he survives, while losing his past memories. Things become jeopardized once again – the Man running after his self-conceived truth and the Boss evading everything with his forgotten memories.


This absurd show of tragicomic happenings reaches an anticlimactic ending at last when the Woman comes in light to reveal the truth. The truth, eternally proven as truth, comes out with the final confession of the Woman as she admits that she has manipulated the entire events to prove one thing: that a woman should not be only confined to her marital status. She also admits that both the males are good and important to her, and she is complete only with the friendship of the two. The song of true love is then sung, and the cloud of suspicion and doubt gives way to amusement and strengthening. Most happily, they join their hands to sing the song of a blessed life forever. The play ultimately ends with the lesson that the myth of romantic love is – despite its destructiveness – indestructible.

Related Posts

Scroll to Top