KATHMANDU, Feb 28: Director Kedar Shrestha’s ‘Maan vs Mati’ is currently being staged at Theater Mall in Kathmandu Mall, Sundhara. The play revolves around a middle class family where the husband and wife are locked in a dispute.
The premise of ‘Maan vs Mati’ is the common Nepali proverb ‘Buda budiko jhagada, paralko aago.’
The husband, Akash Magar, is frustrated with his wife as he feels that she does not pay attention to him when he comes home after a tiring day at work. His wife, Prembarsha Khadka, enjoys watching Hindi TV serials.
The couple is involved in daily spats with each other. However, Magar tries to repair their relationship by taking his wife out for a meal. This does nothing good for them as she does not stop quarreling with him. She is fighting demons of her own as she turns a suspicious wife when her friends begin to praise her husband.
The director has tried to portray the nationwide culture of homemakers who watch Hindi TV serials by showing that it is because of her habit of watching such TV shows that the wife turns so suspicious.
Their small family unity also includes a young son and Magar’s younger brother played by Kushal Pandey, who is a heavy metal music fan and is unemployed. He adds fuel to the fire by making his brother and his sister-in-law question each other’s fidelity.
Through the play, the director’s objective of showing that recurrent friction between couples can easily turn into something nastier where the outsiders will find it easier to create trouble for them.
The country’s huge problem of unemployment and its repercussions among the youth is also represented by Pandey. Our patriarchal societal trends have been tackled by showing that women should not be confined to household chores alone.
The actors have done a great job of portraying their characters. The script of ‘Maan vs Mati’ was written five years ago, says director Shrestha. “I prepared the script based on the incident I heard from a friend while we were traveling in a bus.”
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The play is 70 minutes long and will be staged every evening at 5:15 PM, except on Wednesdays till March 18.
