The New Marathi play ‘Mann Udhaan Varyache’ directed by Rajan Tamhane, which has created a sensation among the audience during the first week of its presentation, has focussed on ‘Infatuation’, -the topic which wasn’t highlighted by Marathi stage so far. In this play a young collegian( Mayuresh) who lives in the neighborhood of a couple in a modern society, is a regular visitor to their house, as he calls the lady of the house( Neena) his ‘Didi’. Neena’s own son is studying in a Military school and is away staying in a hostel, hence she showers upon the parent care on Mayuresh. Everything goes on well with the pure relationship, till Neena discovers a real devil hidden within the youngster's mind, when he tightly holds her hand to his chest on the occasion on her birthday and declares his love for her . Neena rejects his advances spontaneously and keeps this incident as a secret, calling it ‘infatuation’. But, the youngster later comes out openly to confess his love for Neena and in due course of time and even dares to reveal his evil plans of marrying her. He actually threatens her by carrying a pistol and disclosing to her about his assets in cash amounting to 75 lakhs. It’s almost on the lines of Yash Chopra’s film ‘Darr’, where Shahrukh khan plays the frustrated youth madly in love with a girl who belongs to someone else.

After undergoing such a shocking confrontation , Neena informs her husband and their close family friend about this erratic unexpected behaviour of Mayuresh. Finally, they take a decision of informing his parents about their son’s strange behaviour, but the mother of this youngster instead blames Neena for spoiling her son. “You must have provoked him,’ she remarks. The couple is disturbed, though their close friend tries to complain to the police ( much against the wish of Neena). But, the Police refuse to take the complaint, as the youngster’s father is an influential businessman. They finally inform the college Principal. Neena even threatens the youngster’s parents (when they over react) to disclose the story to the media and the businessman tries to pacify her by promising the couple that they will not be disturbed henceforth. But, one day inevitable happens, as Mayuresh ( with his head down) is brought by his mother to Neena’s house, only to apologize, but he suddenly turns hyper and pronounces his love for Neena by moving closer to her.

Finally, one day Neena, who is herself against lodging a police complaint and believes in counseling the youngster; tries to play a game in the form of shock treatment by inviting Mayuresh to her house. She expresses to him her hidden love for the youngster. She makes him feel ashamed with certain moves and reminding a past incident as she embraces him. With this sudden act, Mayuresh realizes his mistake but confesses to her that he didn’t want to see her in such a mood. "For me. my Didi was a perfect role model of an ideal wife," he admits and distances away from her. With happy ending, the play leaves a valid message to the society and also reminds the parents to keep a close watch on the attitude of their adolescent children. The play openly speaks about the duties of parents towards their children.

Director Rajan Tamhane pays more attention on only two characters - Neena and Mayuresh and though it is a predictable end with the clear conscience of Neena , this nearly two hour play makes the desired impact on the audience. Umesh kamat plays Mayuresh with ease but it is Vandana Gupte who steals the show with her memorable performance. It is a very difficult role penned by writer Arwind Aundhe , but the versatile actress perfectly fits into Neena’s character. Jyotsna Das, Milind Safai, Ram Kolhatkar & Ajay Tillu support well in the cast. Lata Narvekar presents this play under the banner of Shree Chintamani Productions. Interestingly, the release of this play almost coincides with the popular festival Raksha Bandhan that marks the pure relationship between brothers and sisters and it remains to be seen how the general conservative audience would respond to this bold theme. But, the sensible and regular theatre goers would certainly acknowledge this play as a timely presentation

by Ulhas Shirke