Discuss in groups, plays or films with a strong message of social reform that you have watched.
Group A : Have you seen Amitabh’s ‘Bagaban’
(Ram, Hari and Geeta)
Group B : Who hasn’t ? Oh! Amitabh at his best.
(Rittu, Manish and Gopi)
Group A : Well, Amitabh is superb. But I am talking of the powerful message that the film gives to the viewers.
Group A : Certainly. The film highlights the sacrifices done by the parents to bring up their children.
Group B : And how conveniently do the children forget those pains and sacrifices ? Group A : The father does everything to make his children happy and comfortable. Group B : And then comes the retirement. The sons and daughters-in-law seek their own pounds of flesh. They expect money.
Group A : They understand no human feelings. They prove thankless. So inhuman that they force their parents to be separated.
Group B : Poetic justice is done in the end. Erring sons and daughters-in-law suffer shame and humiliation. The wheel turns the full circle.
Group A : Powerful social message is conveyed through a sterling performance by Amitabh. Hema is also quite good.
Group B : All said and done, it is a good film based on familial problems and relations.
Is Drama a good medium for conveying a social message? Discuss.
This play, written in the 1950s, is a humorous and satirical depiction of the status of the mother in the family.
(i) What are the issues it raises?
(ii) Do you think it caricatures these issues or do you think that the problems it raises are genuine? How does the play resolve the issues? Do you agree with the resolution?
If you were to write about these issues today what are some of the incidents, examples and problems that you would think of as relevant?
Read the play out in parts. Enact the play on a suitable occasion.
