Sandhya Gokhale: ‘Putting Silhouettes on stage was slightly unnerving’

Sandhya Gokhale (right) directs Amol Palekar in a scene. Pics Courtesy/Sandhya Gokhale

What brought Silhouettes into being?
Over the years I encountered many women whose experiences have stayed with me - women who have suffered humiliation, whose contribution has gone unrecognised, and who remained unseen. I seem to have a kind of cloud memory where I store such unjust incidents, and the play grew out of that accumulation.

It is not a play about victimhood. I was much more interested in the ways women respond to what life throws at them, what they resist, what they hide, and eventually reclaim for themselves.

There has been a seven-year-long gap since your last theatre work. What drew you back, and how has it changed?
The gap was long, but creative pursuits never really disappeared for me. After Kusur (2019), I spent a considerable amount of time working on Amolji's memoir, Viewfinder, in both Marathi and English. That was a very different process.

Divya Seth and (left) Karan Parab enact a scene

There was another question I was grappling with: Are people still interested in an intense theatrical experience that provokes them? I suppose that is what makes putting Silhouettes before an audience exciting, and slightly unnerving at the same time.

The title ‘Silhouettes' evokes the image of people who are visible yet partly obscured. How does that tension shape the play?
That is really the heart of the play. A silhouette gives you the outline of a person without giving you the details. I always like that as a metaphor for human relationships.

We see someone's role as a wife, mother, lover, colleague, friend… and imagine that we therefore know the person. But every individual has a private landscape that may have very little resemblance to the silhouette they present to the world. Sometimes, it is a secret; sometimes, it is a desire; sometimes it is a wound; sometimes, simply a version of themselves they have never had the courage or opportunity to acknowledge.

Sarah Hashmi in a moment from the play

What do you hope the play leaves audiences with?
If the play makes someone pause before defining a woman only through her relationships, or dim-inishing her achievements, and allows them to see her in her own light rather than through reflected light, then perhaps it has made its point. Ideally, something from the play should stay with them after they leave the theatre - not as a conclusion, but as a thought.

You have mentioned Amolji's special appearance. Could you tell us a bit about his character?
Audiences may remember Kusur, where Amol [Palekar] occupied the centre stage for almost 80 minutes. They should not come to this one expecting the same.

Here, he is almost a metaphor representing two variants of men that exist on a spectrum. He is there - less as a protagonist, and more as a reflection of the spectrum of male behaviour that the women encounter. His two appearances represent two kinds of men: the man who lives comfortably behind the shield of patriarchy, and the man who is capable of looking at himself, recognising his part in the harm, and saying so.

ON September 19; 7 pm
AT The Royal Opera House, Girgaon, Charni Road East.
LOG ON TO in.bookmyshow.com
ENTRY Rs 799 onwards