But real life is never neatly divided into two halves, problem and solution, and Molshri and Shivang learn this the hard way. The pleasure of Nukkad Naatak, written and directed by debutant director Tanmaya Shekhar, is that it both celebrates the culture of the street play and exposes it as a limited means to make a real difference. Where Shivang and Molshri come into their own through their theatre group, they also come to see that the pat solutions they tom-tom in their black-and-red outfits are far more complicated on the ground.
Indeed, Molshri’s spirited idealism is stunted by her privilege: she knows nothing of the hard work of real change. When she sees the peon in their canteen humiliated by his superiors, her knee-jerk reaction is to infiltrate the canteen with Shivang, steal drinks and chocolates, and give them to the peon. It is only when they are caught that she sees that nothing has truly changed through her actions: the peon is unlettered, has a family with several children out of school, and lives in a makeshift tent in the local basti.
