Jhumkewali- A love story that starts with friendship
This one is close to me because it’s based on the corridors of my alma mater, Sophia College for Women. It took me back to my days of falling in love, not just with the rose-colored campus, but also the heartmakers and heartbreakers that roamed the corridors. Some stories made it to love, some were kept neatly folded in the closet, at the bottom of the pile of societal and gender status quo.
Jhumkewali, written by Ami Bhansali and directed by Nidhi Krishna and Mekhala, this play felt like a rosy memory, we’ve forgotten to think about, in a long long time. Performed by the bold Sasha Dhawan who played Bindu, and the beautiful Harshini Misra who played Rekha, the first thing that caught my eye was the vibey stage decor with the red checkered, retro vibe table at the corner with a flower, that oozed of a love we’ve all deprived ourselves. A love that blooms out of pure, innocuous friendship, where jealousies are valid, and acknowledged, and insecurities are expressed and communicated.
The complete opposite of a relationship, as we know it today, is what Jhumkewali depicts in this girl-on-girl friendship that is evidently romantic, but it’s a romance in the 1970s so no surprises for guessing, it’s devoid of the ghosting, the easy access to social media updates. It’s first and foremost, a beautiful friendship.
The story begins with a lost pair of earrings and moves from there to being late for the local train, together. We see a beautiful development of Rekha’s jealousy over Bindu’s other friend, a gradual climb to planning their first disco night together and trying to fit in with the other by changing their smoker status, silences shared over a cup of chai and building comfort with a desire to look their best selves for each other.
A love story that starts with friendship, is one that always wins our hearts and makes us believe in love, and all that it means to us, all over again.
From the polka dot dress and hairband of the shy but articulate Rekha, to the carefree yet emotionally aware nature of Bindu, the characters aptly played the part of being complete opposites in personalities but being attracted to each other. They wholly accept each other’s life’s hiccups, lifting and understanding each other, a quintessential but very naturally fulfilled requirement of any kind of romance.
‘Ragingly queer’ as one of the Instagram posts of Jhumkewali read, this play has much to teach, remind and make us feel about love, being just a pure form of friendship, and that’s probably why we can define friendship, but will often find ourselves at a loss of words to describe love.