Mumbai, November 10, 2004
Mumbai News Lne
It was the documentary image of baby Zarina, just 18 days old but already
dying, that inspired Canada-based Indian playwright Rahul Varma.
The resultant script, delving into the story of the Bhopal gas tragedy,
saw thespian Habib Tanvir change his shailee (form).
Twenty years after the tragedy, Zahreeli Hawa premieres at the Prithvi
Theatre Festival. The play is vintage Tanvir.
An NRI confident of resolving Indias crises through industrialisation.
A Canadian doctor fighting for the communitys health.
Rahul Varma
Union Carbide Chief Executive Officer Warren Anderson. And an unborn
child whose fate hangs in the balance. I didnt want
to concentrate on chemicals and corruption, but on the indignity of
dismissing human beings and their right to birth healthy babies,
says Varma.
After repeated visits to Bhopal and meetings with victims, Varmas
play opened in Canada just after September 11, 2001.
There was initial pressure against an anti-US play, when
the country was in mourning. But Indias been in mourning for 20
years. The WMDs werent in Iraq but in Bhopal, he says.
A proven killer is roaming free in America,
he adds, speaking of Andersonthe only character in the play to
come straight from real life. Ive said such nasty
things about him, I was hoping for a lawsuit.
Veteran Montreal actor David Francis plays the CEO, and he, too, was
prepared for brickbats. I was told of an English actor who
got bashed up after playing a Raj officer. And Bhopal was full of grafitti
that read: Hang Anderson and If you want Osama, give
us Anderson, laughs the Indo-phile.
American co-star Terry Allen was volunteering at a herbal medicine
garden for the victims when she met Varma. I was a farmer
whod never been on stage. But he convinced me that theatre would
reach where slogans wouldnt, she says.
When I sent Habib the final script, he gave it his own
stamp, says Varma.
Unlike Tanvirs trademark musicals, Zahreeli has just one song.
But his Chhattisgarhi actors and multi-lingual exchanges are very much
a part of the piece.
It was a complex rehearsal process, with actors who didnt
understand each others languages, smiles Allen, who
is looking forward to stagings in New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Uttar
Pradesh and Punjab.