<img title="Mallika Taneja in a former staging of Thoda Dhyaan Se" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/sep/Mallika-Taneja.jpg" alt="Mallika Taneja in a former staging of Thoda Dhyaan Se" />Mallika Taneja in a former staging of Thoda Dhyaan Se
Is A woman&rsquo;s liberation determined by the clothes she wears or those that she doesn&rsquo;t? Does a woman perpetrate sexual violence because of how much she shields, or how much she exposes? Delhi-based theatre artiste Mallika Taneja will reflect upon these troubling questions, in an hour-long monologue, titled Thoda Dhyaan Se.
The hour-long solo act will see a semi-nude Taneja walk onto the stage, before she begins piling on clothes one at a time &mdash; 50 pieces totally &mdash; while having an open conversation with her audience.
Taneja&rsquo;s satire, which has been staged at various venues in India as well as Paris and London, has garnered a lot of attention &mdash; it won the ZKB Acknowledgement Prize at the Zurich Theatre Festival &mdash; for its reactionary and bold arguments. &ldquo;It was purely instinctive,&rdquo; says Taneja of how she developed her piece. But, it actually stemmed from this conversation that people have when a woman is sexually violated.
&ldquo;The first question that&rsquo;s asked is &lsquo;what was she wearing?&rsquo; When you start analysing the worth of that question, you realise how absurd it is that people try to put the blame on something like clothes for what&rsquo;s wrong with our society. It was about embodying that question&rsquo;s absurdity and bring to focus how untrue that statement is,&rdquo; adds Taneja. By the end of the performance, the person on stage, who is now layered in clothing, becomes barely recognisable. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a reflection of the bundle of advice that women carry along with them all the time,&rdquo; says Taneja. &ldquo;Freedom has nothing to do with clothing. It&rsquo;s about how free you are in your mind, and how far you are from being trapped by whatever society forces upon you.&rdquo;
Thoda Dhyaan Se will be performed at multiple venues from September 29 to October 2. To book a seat, email: keepyourhelmeton@gmail.com

Artiste Mallika Taneja will pile on 50 pieces of clothing to protest sexual violence

Unshedding the blame, one outfit at a time

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Home / Sunday-mid-day / Article / Unshedding the blame, one outfit at a time

Unshedding the blame, one outfit at a time

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