“I never had the privilege of wearing a salwar kameez. I had to cover my face with a ghunghat (headscarf) all the time,” recalled Kashi, one of the eight actors performing the play Main Yahan Hoon (I am Here). Eight women, all of them wearing pink salwar kameezes, had come together at Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru on Monday, October 17, to share their work of art, raising their voice against discrimination, patriarchy, and sexual violence.
The play’s description Aath Mahilayein, Ek Shareer (eight women, one body) reads aptly with what it has in store. It talks about women, their bodies, and the crimes committed against them. But the play is also not restricted to just that. Main Yahan Hoon is performed by the Freeda Theatre Group, an artistic collective formed by a group of women who hail from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The eight actors, who belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, come together on stage to highlight their struggles with casteism, patriarchy, and violence. With little to no support from family and friends, these women have come a long way to perform in front of an audience far away from home.
Explaining how theatre has helped her express her feelings, Kashi said, “Now, I too have the freedom to express myself without any fear. I can connect with people through my performance.” Main Yahan Hoon highlights concerns of justice, freedom, and beauty, as it moves through various phases of a woman’s life, from childhood to youth and womanhood. Using very few words, the women say a lot.
Addressing the audience, Ekta, the organiser of the play, said, “Main Yahaan Hoon came into existence after numerous visits to Madhya Pradesh and multiple workshops with these eight performers.” It was in 2018 that the members of Maraa, a Bengaluru-based media and arts collective, first met this group of women, survivors of sexual and caste based violence, who shared their stories and struggles with them. Inspired by what they had heard, Maraa later put together a play called Chu Kar Dekho (Touch and See). Last year, they travelled back with the performance to the women, and invited them on a journey of making theatre with them. Thus, Freeda Theatre was born, she said.
The first production of the Freeda Theatre Group, Main Yahan Hoon had its premiere in Indore before travelling to Bengaluru. As part of Maraa's annual arts festival, October Jam, Freeda Theatre Group performed Main Yahan Hoon at different locations in Bengaluru.