Massage at the NCPA: Adaptation of the Vijay Tendulkar play enters its tenth year

“Learn to rise on the occasion, and not after it.”

This is just one of the many prescient, innuendo-filled observations in Massage (2003), a Hindi adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s Marathi original, The Masseur (2001). Massage was staged for the tenth consecutive year this weekend.

Over a span of two acts and two hours, the audience witnesses twenty-five characters. One actor, alone, plays them all. While minimalism—whether in the number of actors or the diversity of theatrical property (props)—is increasingly rare in theater today, Massage delights audiences for its very abstemiousness. “He’s amazing,” said Ruma Banerjee, a viewer, referring to the veteran film, television and theater personality Rakesh Bedi, the sole actor of the play.

The play illustrates the journey of the hapless though optimistic Happy Kumar, who enters Mumbai to become an actor. Kumar does find a job in the film industry, though as “fourth assistant director,” a position that, as he soon understands, entails being “a bina paise ka coolie,” a coolie without money. From fourth assistant director, he moves to an administrative job at a gymnasium, before settling to become a “freelance massagist,” a masseur based out of his home. 

Directed by Harbansh Singh, the play lampoons facets of city life, such as unsympathetic employers, unyielding competition, and corruption. It also illustrates the unusual circumstances an unassuming individual can find himself in, from being forced to massage his boss’ physically unpleasant wife, to having to humor an actress’ coercively amorous mother.

Through the performance, the audience convulses with glee. But the laughter and applause are a result, as Singh explains, not of crude jokes or colorful language, but perceptive wit and realistic humor. The play’s comedy revolves around day-to-day matters such as love, going to a toilet, living alongside one’s partner, the desire for physical litheness, and the abysmal reality of one’s shape. Both Singh and Bedi attribute the play’s merits to Tendulkar’s uncompromising genius, which they compare to that of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.

With its intelligence, wit, and reality, Massage, without surprise, continues to be popular even in its tenth years. Produced by Pratik Arts Theatre, it was staged at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) on the nights of June 16^th and 17^th. The play will be staged in various parts of the country and the world in the coming months, including at the Assam Drama Festival on August 7^th.