The eye of the beholder

Chitra, a play by Red Polka Productions, which deals with truths about beauty and love, was staged recently at Lamakaan. The play is a modernised English translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Chitrangada (1891).

The story of the play is taken from the Mahabharata. Arjuna, then sworn to celibacy, was roaming the jungles when he reaches Manipur, a land ruled by princess Chitra. When she meets and falls in love with him, she makes the effort to adorn herself in the finest of jewellery before proposing marriage. But Arjuna declines her proposal. Dejected, Chitra asks God Madina to make her more feminine and fair. Transformed, she makes another attempt to woo Arjuna, and this time he falls for her.

The actors played their part convincingly and the act ended with a thunderous applaud from the audience.