Deepa Gahlot Column: Officers, gentlemen and brutes

It is always heartening to see a production that bucks current trends and manages to get audience appreciation too Commercial Gujarati theatre is not known for experimentation or for even straying too far from accepted norms Producers depend on box office sales for their revenue and some lsquosoldoutrsquo shows selected by community groups for their members so they normally pick safe crowdpleasing subjectsPlaywrightactress Sneha Desai has written a serious play called Code Mantra set against the background of the army The working of the armed forces is a subject that has not been explored much in Mumbai theatrePlaywrightactress Sneha Desai whose Blackout was also a clutterbreaker has written a serious play called Code Mantra set against the background of the army The working of the armed forces is a subject that has not been explored much in Mumbai theatre plays like The Caine Mutiny Court Martial and Operation Cloudbursts come to mindProduced by Bharat N Thakkar and directed by Rajesh Joshi Code Mantra is a rather cleverly Indianised version of a Hollywood film which was based on a play adding family values and emotional drama to the otherwise grim plot The Rajputana Rifles unit is posted at a tough border outpost where Colonel Indravadan Rajput Pratap Sachdeo controls his men with stringent discipline that borders on cruelty One of the men who is unfit for commando duties is given harsh punishment that kills him The man responsible for his death is his own brother secondincommand Ashwin Rathod Alpesh DixitHis mother requests military law expert Shagun Oza Sneha Desai to defend Ashwin mdash she takes the case against the advice of her husband Amit Soni and the good humoured warning of the prosecutor Suraj Vyas When she tries to reach for the truth she comes up against a wall of silence and coverups She is aware that the army has a Code Mantra that involves using severe methods to toughen up men who show any sign of weakness this could involve physical torture or starving the men who donrsquot come up to the standards set by their commanding officers Shagun had encountered it herself in the past as a young cadet whose military career was cut short by injury caused by an administration of corporal punishmentHowever nobody talks to her openly and even Ashwin refuses to implicate his seniors The unitrsquos lsquoall for one one for allrsquo rule comes to the fore and even though there are lies and fudging of papers she cannot prove who ordered the torture of the dead cadet and that there exists a secret lsquoCode Mantrarsquo that sanctions such action The case reaches military court and the truth slowly comes out The monologue by the colonel about the patriotism of the military and its commitment to protecting the countryrsquos citizens is chillingSoldiers exist in a macho world where there is no place for a weak link or the slightest veering from strict lines of discipline because a tiny slip could endanger the whole unit as well as the nationrsquos security But is there no place for compassion in this scenario is what the play seems to ask There is a fine line that divides the disciplining senior from a heartless monsterApart from the performances what is impressive about the production is the attention to detail from the uniforms to military protocol to the body language of the cadets marching across the stage in many scenes It is a large cast and members of the production unit play nonspeaking parts which enables them to make set changes quickly and seamlessly Over a few shows the coordination is smooth and never takes the audiencersquos attention from the action on stage in spite of no blackoutsThe lights sound and set are suitable for the progression of the play mdash they give a sense of time place and military ceremony but are not so overwhelming that the human drama being played out is dwarfed at any pointThe play is verbose as courtroom dramas tend to be without a slackening of pace Still there are wordless scenes like a funeral after a shocking death and the stripping of an officerrsquos insignia which with their solemnity offer a break from the melodrama Sneha Desairsquos lines evoke the right emotions and invite spontaneous applause from the audience that packed the suburban Bhaidas auditorium on a Sunday afternoon and has been filling up every show The risk producer Thakkar took in backing a play that would be considered offbeat in any language paid off and would perhaps encourage others to get out of the routine domestic soap operas that make up a large chunk of Gujarati theatre More often than not the audience gets blamed for not being eclectic in their tastes but of late they have been open to experimental plays provided there is no stinting on entertainmentDeepa Gahlot is an awardwinning film and theatre critic and an arts administrator She tweets at deepagahlot