Anahita Uberoi
The play depicts the lives of seven people living in Mumbai, all with their own uniquely moving story. It tries to capture the essence of people living in the city through seven characters who have been strung together in a series of monologues. Stories about the ambitions of a child artist, the escape of a ridiculed wife into art, a single mother’s sacrifice of her life for the sake of her children, child abuse, a TV reporter’s regret of the media’s inability to celebrate positivism rather than sensationalism and negative news, a hilarious take on corruption by a broker and the west beckoning today’s youth are all interwoven. Each character, marked by failure and doubt are clearly self –censored. While they may communicate through candid expression, they subtly allude to greater truths.
The story, set in 1971 at the time of the war between India and Pakistan, is based on the novel of the same name by Rohinton Mistry, an Indian now living in Toronto. "Such a Long Journey" takes place mostly in and around a large apartment complex, its courtyard and the street, which the municipal authorities want to widen so that even more choking diesel fumes can cloud the air. We meet the hero, Gustad (Roshan Seth), in the process of defending the old concrete wall that protects his courtyard from the street, and later he strikes a bargain with an itinerant artist (Ranjit Chowdhry), who covers the wall with paintings from every conceivable religious tradition, with the thought that all of the groups represented will join in defending the wall.
