Torn between terror and human bonding 

The Hindu, Tuesday, November 30, 2010

NEW DELHI: Noted theatre personality Lushin Dubey is staging a play dealing with terrorism titled "Ji Saab Ji" at the Sri Ram Centre here this coming Wednesday and Thursday. A play about the times we live in, "Ji Saab Ji" is about the response to terrorism by the State and its people. But the play doesn't take sides, is not about Hindus and Muslims. Neither does it offer solutions to the conflict. 

Conceived by Nicholas Kharkongor in English after the Mumbai terrorist attack in 2008, the play was translated into Hindi by Lushin and her mother-in-law Savitry Dubey. "It touches upon why certain people go a certain way. Religion is not meant to unleash the dark side but the good side. In the 21st Century, religion is being used for violence by fundamentalists," says Lushin, who is playing the role of producer, director and actor in the play. The play merely re-enacts a situation common enough in a terror prone country like India. Through the situation, it highlights how we have become our own worst enemies. The play is set in a city immediately after a bomb blast. A cop is convinced a dying old man holds the key to finding the terrorist who has been identified as the mastermind of the blast. But he has no proof. Billed as a play about humanity, it rises above the subject of terrorism and embraces and explores the enduring bonds of love and friendship not between similar people, but between seemingly incompatible people. It highlights that a dying old man and a teenage boy of different backgrounds, sensibilities and beliefs share a special bond. 

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