SUTRADHAR Presents ISMAT – EK AURAT (A collage of Ismat Chugtai’s three short works) Directed by Vinay Varma At Lamakaan On 19th December, 2013, 7.30 pm Entry ₹ 100/- Available @ Sutradhar (9848052541), and online with www.bookmyshow.com  This is a seventy minute performance.  It’s a dramatized performance of three short stories as vignettes.  The author of the stories is Ismat Chughtai, the legendary Urdu writer.  Each story is narrated by one of the three artistes in a sequence.  A letter by Manto on his view of Ismat as a woman is read out as a prelude.  Permission for the performances has been obtained from Ismat Chughtai’s grandson Mr Ashish Sawhny.

Ismat Chughtai, was a veritable tour de force of women's writing in India, a woman who was a feminist by instinct, long before it became fashionable to flash the badge of feminism.

She brought to the fore the modernity inherent in the actions of the poorest of rural Indian women as well as the stagnation in the minds of the so called urban elite.

Ruthlessly honest and deeply perceptive, she presented the truth of society and its women in the same nakedness in which she saw them. She wrote with a rare courage, truth and good humour which endear her to everyone who comes across her writings. The performance begins with Guftagu (Tete-e-tete), a monologue by Ismat herself where she muses and talks about her early life, family relationships and her writings. The second story, Saas (Mother-in-law), is about a unique saas-bahu pair and adds a new dimension to this perceived notorious relationship. The third and the last is Chidi Ki Dukki (The Second Card of Clubs) which speaks volumes about how wit and attitude in a woman can be more attractive than the supposed good looks.  Guftagu by Deepti Girotra  Saas by Babli Yadav  Chidi Ki Dukki by Pallavi Varma