Is mercy killing a legal or an ethical issue?

‘Phandi’, a play written by Dr Shankar Shesh, which deals with the oft debated topic of euthanasia brings in a slice of rural India

Euthanasia, or mercy killing as it is popularly known, evokes strong reactions, both for and against in societies round the world, even today. In an argumentative milieu like ours, where anything is debated for its worth and impact, this topic has remained as an eternal favourite of many.

‘Phandi’, a play written by Dr Shankar Shesh, a noted author and writer for Hindi films (like the Amol Palekar-Zarina Wahab starrer ‘Gharaonda’ (1977)) is one that is set in the India of the late Sixties. A 90-minute presentation, staged at Lamakaan by Udaan Performing Arts on Sunday night without a break, it had only three characters mapping out the story of a murderer awaiting the gallows. It was presented as a step-by-step sequence of court scenes, in which the whole issue emerges with its manifestations.

Such a kind of an attempt, where a set of characters on stage, based on their acting skills, try and pitch in for those who are offstage is a huge challenge. Not only do they have to make the audience imagine the absentee ones, they also would have to make quick adjustments to their dialogue intonations, styles and language.

Here is where, the two who are seen for the longest time on the stage – Naren Yadav and Krishna Shukla do it efficiently and consistently. Yadav, playing the failed advocate Bhola Ram wishes to crack the trauma of his continuous defeats one last time with this case.

Phandi, the character on whose name the play is titled is his client and the murderer of his cancer-stricken father, essayed by Shukla. The third character, the jail warden played by Prashaant Sharma, provides the official version, relieving the tedium of arguments and counter arguments very well with his comic capers.

Not only do the three they play their parts with passion and authority, they bring to life all those who move the play forward in its quest to address the burning question - are laws made for people or vice versa?

At varying levels, the play scores, having been written in a rich Hindi language and an easy flowing, realistic tone. It brings in a slice of rural India into the rarefied environs of the urban nation, which is replete with money lenders, corrupt babus, evil business men and laced with heartwarming instances of human warmth and sacrifices. ‘Phandi’ works wonderfully and it showcases the might of legal acumen in a court environment, which if employed well, can make right sound wrong and wrong, absolutely right.

Realising that the advocacy of mercy killing as a cure to relieve the chronically suffering of their miseries would open a fresh can of worms, the author seemed to have kept his conclusion neutral even when he wrote it a few decades ago.

The play too, passionately puts forth both the sides of the argument and exhorts the people to think about it from their own perspectives. The real-life narration of a similar experience of one of the crew members, a known senior in the local theatre/performing arts circuit was apt and heart-rending, as the play was received to a hearty appreciation by the audience.

By:K Naresh Kumar