‘Corruption’ is one such issue in our state, that needs to be tackled seriously. But, for that the common man has to raise his voice against all such corrupt politicians, who have not only exploited the poor but are on the verge of selling this country. Their only wish is to see the prosperity of their near and dear ones and to achieve the same, they can go to any extent. Money has made them so powerful that they easily find the way out, whenever in deep trouble. The pressure of media just sends them behind the curtain for a while and they are back into their money making business in just a year or two, as public memory is very short. Moreover, people in our state are very tolerant and it is this tolerance is encouraging corrupt practices among politicians. Writer- director Anand Mhasvekar has tried to highlight this issue through his new marathi play ‘Choice is Yours’; after his successful play ‘U- Turn’.

‘Choice is Yours’ has two main characters in the form of a Minister in Maharashtra cabinet Mr. Dadasaheb Patil, ( Sunil Shende) who has made a lot of money in his career as politician during past 25 years. He is challenged by a well educated protagonist,( Kishore Kadam) who is serving in a bank. Posing himself as a Police officer, he kidnaps the minister after a Public meeting and brings him to an isolated place. With his direct interaction with the minister, he finally reveals his identity as a revolutionary and forces the minister to come out with the truth behind all his corrupt practices. The shrewd minister does provide him all details as he is under death threat. When the kidnapper surrenders himself before the police after completing his job of recording the confessions of the minister; the minister defends himself in the court stating that whatever he has confessed in the recording is not true, as he was forcibly asked to say so, under death threat.

Soon, the minister is freed and the kidnapper is sentenced to seven years imprisonment. While in Jail, he writes a book titled ‘Choice is Yours’. In the meanwhile, the minister is forced to resign due to opposition pressure over corruption charges. But, two years later, he bounces back by getting elected with a big margin from his constituency. Through this play, the writer-director clearly hints at the tolerance of public in general and also about their short lived memory. Very cleverly, he has exposed the system with powerful dialogues blaming both the ruling party and opposition for their hand-n-glove game. There is one dialogue by the protagonist, which goes on to say that democracy of this country is seen clearly when 60% of country’s population is free not to take part in the election process. Which means that they are not bothered about who rules the country.

There are many scenes, where there is open talk about the bottling plants set up by Ministers at places like Vidharbha, where the locals are deprived of minimum drinking water and where farmers are committing suicides. The involvement of the minister is openly shown with many illegal activities while in power. Even the media is blamed for carrying irrelevant news in the name of Breaking News! The director has cleverly used the projection system to create that desired impact of TV news. ‘Choice is Yours’ inspires the common man to come out in the open and fight injustice. “When a Bank official could do it, why not you, with better preparations ?” it tries to suggest through the climax.

Both Sunil Shende and Kishore Kadam have come out with wonderful performances well supported by other co- artistes. The play is well presented with effective lighting, perfect setting and good background music to match with the theme.