Humanity is going down the drain: Lushin Dubey

NEW DELHI - After entertaining theatre lovers with “Life of Gautam Buddha” and “Muskaan”, actor-director Lushin Dubey has returned to stage with her new play “Ji Saab’Ji” that touches upon terrorism. She feels the human race is going through a tough phase.

“Human communion, the essence of humanity, is going down the tubes. Everywhere you see people are unleashing their darker side instead of embracing the positivity inside us humans. There are negative and positive forces in all of us; so what are we to do? We have to rise above that,” Dubey told IANS.

Dubey’s play “Ji Saab’Ji”, staged at Sri Ram Centre, Mandi House, Wednesday and Thursday, re-enacts a situation common enough in a terror-prone country like India and attempts to shed light on how man has become his own worst enemy.

“I’m not trying to preach, this is just a very situational play with such a background, it’s been handled very carefully. It’s about an old man, an assistant who is dying; a police man who represents law; and a niece who is like a woman gluing everything together. So it involves several characters and is a very sensitively done piece,” she said.

“I’m not trying to spearhead a change. It is just something I feel and wanted to share with people. These issues are sensitive to every individual and only when we start questioning can we move forward; that is my whole point,” she said.

The play, Dubey claims, aims only at making people look inward and understand how we can bring about a change in society.

“The ‘manch’ (theatre) is my medium, like a book is a writer’s medium. When I say I want to do this and show it to audiences, it is not to start a war; it is just to introspect, since change always begins with introspection,” she said.

She also voiced her opinion on how social activists have suffered and how freedom of speech cannot be curbed.

“India’s is one of the most beautiful democracies and it is an even tougher democracy because of the diversity. We have to be proud that we have such a democracy, you can’t stop people, you can’t put a lock on people’s mouths because they voiced an opinion,” she said.

She is not only known for her work in theatre but has also done her bit in Bollywood with roles in films like “Amu” and yet to be released “Delhi Belly”.

“I play Imran Khan’s mother-in-law in ‘Delhi Belly’ but it hasn’t released as yet,” she said.

(Rishabh P. Nair can be contacted at rishabh.n@ians.in)