'Janeman' staged by HMT on 29.6.2018 in Patna

Basanti, an eunuch- the revolution takes place in mind rather than in body

To live a natural life is the biggest pleasure you can have. 'Janeman' is a revolt against the cliche that eunuch like the way they lead their lives. Most eunuchs are a full-fledged male by birth having an unusual fancy for living a life of female. As a result what they get is nothing more than an inferno of hatred and neglect. They are nowhere in the society trying to dig in some place for themselves  And all the means left to them are full of ignominy, insult, torture and repentance. The life of an eunuch is summarised by the fact that when he dies all the members of his group beat him with sandals. A salvo of expletives follows why he came in this tortureful life of a spado and from next time he must keep away from such a birth. 

Nazzo and Panna are no.1 and 2 in a group of eunuchs. A boy Mukesh has a fascination for feminine carnal pleasures. He goes voluntarily to the group and is adopted happily by them. Everyone fondles him and he soon becomes a darling of all in the group. He is fully assimilated in the group and behaves himself like an eunuch. His private part of a male is cut off later and for several hours the pain is unbearable. He is now Nagina.  Then he is married off to a wealthy businessman who pays a hefty money to the leader of the group. Everybody is overjoyed on getting very good amount for Mukesh alias Nagina. 

The play focuses the incompleteness of the eunuchs. The physical incompleteness is absolutely artificial as all of them are born male but castrated to become an eunuch. The incompleteness pervades beyond the realm of physical body and their whole psyche comes under the grip of an  emptiness which later transforms into lack of purpose to live. Some like Basanti and Rekha try to feel complete by selling bhujiya a code word for prostitution used frequently in this play. In one scene Basanti is in a sexual rage imploring to Mukesh alias Nagina for sexual gratification as he was then a full male without castration. Nagina says that he has no desire to behave like a male and rather enjoys being treated as a female. Then Basanti comes out of the psychological gauntlet of an eunuch and passes a statement directly from the core of heart of a human being " Bhaag jaa Mukesh, tu abhi pura mard hai. Kyon iss narak me khud ko barbaad kar raha hai?" means "Fless away Mukesh you are a fully grown male yet. Why are you wasting your life in this hell?

The same boy who was a centre of affection from all the members is thrown on the ground and beaten when he refuse to join a team going towards roadside for begging with their typical style. His status is miserable as his so-called husband businessman with whom he was married with full fanfare has gone for ever leaving back all relationship with Nagina. A very dark face of the group comes into light wherre there is no mercy for those who refuses to earn money in their typical coquetry. It is more than obvious that prostitution is not thought a proper occupation for eunuchs and they are content with their profession of singing and dancing. Nazzo and Panna are furious on the members who come back to their residence after selling bhujiya a sobriquet for act of prostitution.

The whole play narrataes the state of affairs in the life of eunuchs since the beginning to the very end. The section of human beings who are meant to be a source of entertainment for all have nothing to feel happy in their own life. Most of their off-time are wasted in wrangling, verbal fight and envy. They are like birds inside an unbreakable prison crafted ironically by themselves. But for sure this is not just an account of wailing and weeping. There is an effervescent desire of freedom from the inferno that lifts the play to a glorious height. The revolution takes place in mind rather than in body and you live in society less with your body and more with your mind. It hardly matters whether all organs in your biological body is in perfect shape or not what actually matters is whether you have a fervent sense of belonging to a free society or not. 

In this multi-starer drama, script by Machindra More is very precise giving no space for jokes or formula entertainment. Off course there are intermittent musical pieces enough to make you twist on seat but still it is a thorough tragedy and Suresh Kumar Hazzu a veteran director of Hajju Musical Theatre have a know-how of it. He knows how music is still so essential a part of a drama even though telling a tragedy. His direction was deft and skillful. Every scene of the play was to be negotiated by a large group of eunuchs the interaction among the members of group.  Hazzu was able to extract the perfect symphony of body language from every member of the group. Satyajit Keshri (Rekha) looked perfect eunuch and left his impression well. Raas Raaz in the role Gulabo the middleman for eunuchs's marriage and a gutka-peddler in another scene as sheer dashing and impressive. Manish Mahiwal in the role of Panna left him impression as a powerful group leader whereas Hiralal was able to live the disenchanted eunuch Basanti who aspires and decisively chooses to leave the group and join the mainstream life as a common man even though having been physically castrated,

Rohit Chandra as Mukesh @ Nagina looked as innocent as required and acted very well.. Rajwardhan as Nazzo showed his mettle perfectly. Randhir Kumar, Vikas Vishishst, Kumar Gaurav, Ritwik Singhania, Niraj Verma, Suresh Hazzu, Nikesh did justice with their roles. Randhir, Raushan and Rahul were fine as other actors.

Punj Prakash on lights was faultless and Md. Jony, Ashif and team added melodious music which was vital for the play. 

In the essence Suresh Kumar Hazzu and the whole team must be applauded vigorously for putting forth a very important theme to the masses in such an effective manner. All left behind must join the mainstream society and must live a normal life without any compunction even in the face of disabilities of sorts. 

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Review by - Hemant Das 'Him'

Photographs by - Binay Kumar, Vibha

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