View source for Koi Pan Ek Phool Nu Naam Bolo To

{{Short description|Play by Madhu Rye}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}}
'''''Koi Pan Ek Phool Nu Naam Bolo To''''' (English: Tell Me The Name of a Flower) is a 1967 Indian psychological-thriller play by [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] writer [[Madhu Rye]].

==Background==
Madhu Rye wrote ''Koi Pan Ek Phool Nu Naam Bolo To'' in 1967 for [[Ahmedabad]] based theatre group [[Darpana Academy of Performing Arts|Darpana]].{{sfn|Rye|2007|p=iv}}<ref name="Ahmedabad Mirror 2014">{{cite web|title=Whodunnit 'revisited'|website=Ahmedabad Mirror|date=9 October 2014|url=https://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad/others/Whodunnit-revisited/articleshow/44726713.cms|access-date=19 September 2020|archive-date=10 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910222309/https://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad/others/Whodunnit-revisited/articleshow/44726713.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> It was translated into English by Vijay Padaki and published in ''Three Gujarati Plays by Madhu Rye'' (2007).{{sfn|Rye|2007|p=169}}

==Characters==
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
* Jagannath Pathak/Pramod{{snd}}leader of the theatre troupe
* Kamini Desai/Kanta{{snd}}lead actress of the troupe
* Sundar Desai/Niranjan{{snd}}member of the troupe and Kamini's brother
* Swati Soni/Bhabhi{{snd}}member of the troupe, Pritam Soni's wife and Niranjan's lover
* Pritam Soni/Nandlal{{snd}}member of the troupe and Swati's Husband
* Keshav Thaker/Deshpande{{snd}}playwright of the troupe
{{div col end}}
<!---==Theme==
'Tell me the name of a flower' is an avant-garde Psychological thriller that takes place within the premises of a Theatre-company. Centered on the female lead character Kamini, the play interrogates the notions of abuse and power that takes place between the characters. Kamini, because of the manipulation she underwent by the playwright of the troupe Keshav Thaker, wields her power over every other character in the play by creating a mythical story of Shekhar Khosla. She picks on the weaknesses of every character through her mythical story. Her drive for power and her own emotional manipulation by Keshav Thaker leads her to commit a murder in plain sight and slowly losing her mind in the process. The first act of the play is a hilarious farce that suddenly morphs into an intense courtroom drama which eventually ends on a tragic note. The play was remarkable for its breaking of linear time, for mixing genres (comedy, thriller and tragedy) as well as for creating sexually liberated female characters, and it was amongst the earlier plays in Gujarati to do so.--->

==Plot==
The play is written in four acts.{{sfn|Baradi|2003|p=191}}

The first act starts with a typical middle-class household scene, where Kanta and Niranjan are tensed that Kanta's husband Pramod will find out about their secret love affair. To settle the matters, a meeting is called upon which also involves their friends Nandlal and Bhabhi. Things proceed in a funny manner where each character feels guilty and wishes to kill himself/herself. The dialogues mostly involve witty repartee and talks around infidelity and sexual morality. However, at the end of the first act, Kanta gets down in the audience and kills a member sitting in the first row. 

The second act radically shifts the tone of the play. Suddenly, the scene shifts in a courtroom where different characters are interrogated by an aggressive, anonymous 'voice'. We learn that the first act was actually a part of the play, and all the characters are basically working in a theatre group. Pramod is Jagannath Pathak, the leader of the theatre troupe. Kanta is Kamini Desai, the lead actress, Bhabhi is Swati Soni and Nandlal is [[Pritam]] Soni — a real life couple, Niranjan is Kamini's brother Sundar Desai, and the actor who speaks only one line as a cameo appearance in the first act is Keshav Thaker, the playwright of the troupe. The murder that happened at the end of the first act was real, and all the characters are interrogated to find out why Kamini killed Shekhar Khosla, the audience member in the first row. This act uses expository flashback techniques to show the intertwined relationships between the characters. But it also shows how all the characters are lying to the voice and actually played some role in the murder. 

The third act features their individual testimonies where we realize that Kamini was abused by her lover Jagannath Pathak and her brother Sundar Desai. One realizes that Kamini created an imaginary myth of a man named Shekhar Khosla to terrorize everyone around her to gain some control and agency. 

The fourth act reveals that it was actually the meek and gullible looking playwright Keshav Thaker who was manipulating and feeding Kamini with the stories of Shekhar Khosla, who used to bully him and abused his wife. Kamini's mental health deteriorates gradually and she starts believing the myth of Shekhar Khosla, and actually falls in love with the imaginary idea of Shekhar Khosla she had created in her head. It is to prove that myth to be real, Kamini commits murder and is finally put behind bars. The last scene shows Kamini who has lost her mind behind the bars. She is still thinking of Shekhar Khosla, and breaks down in the end. The play that began as a comedy, turned into a thriller, eventually ends as a tragedy.

==Reception==
[[Hasmukh Baradi]] wrote that the play exhibits a fine mastery of structure, astute presentation of conflictual episodes and a keen sense for portraying characters. The potential to provoke thought was somewhat undermined however, in his view, by an excessive recourse to dramatics, a shortcoming which was counterbalanced by the play's formal technical virtues.<ref name="Gujarati Vishwakosh">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Baradi|first=Hasmukh|author-link=Hasmukh Baradi|encyclopedia=[[Gujarati Vishwakosh]]|title=કોઈ પણ એક ફૂલનું નામ બોલો તો
|url=https://gujarativishwakosh.org/કોઈ-પણ-એક-ફૂલનું-નામ-બોલો-ત/|date=January 2008|language=gu}}</ref>

Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta described the play as a murder mystery, one whose tangled secrets are gradually teased out by a combination of nimble-witted humour and viciousness exhibited in their interactions by the various members of a theatrical company.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mahadevan-Dasgupta|first=Uma|title=Masterpieces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DFuAAAAMAAJ|journal=Indian Review of Books|year=2000|volume=10|issue=2–8|location=Madras|publisher=Acme Books Pvt. Ltd|page=46|oclc=27376499|access-date=2022-02-07|archive-date=2022-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207202139/https://books.google.com/books?id=6DFuAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

The critic [[Jashvant Shekhdiwala]] judged the play to be one of the finest written over the past two decades. According to him, "the playwright's craftsmanship successfully created a complex play within a play, by the device of juxtaposing an inner and an outer stage  with the drama in one setting offset by the other, where a court takes down evidence from the characters. The audience itself was placed in a position to participate as the presiding judge. The result was a dynamic flow of suspense, as mysteries emerge, riddles arise, concerns are raised and involvements of the protagonist dissected. All this is ably sustained until the curtain falls." The play was, in his view, one of the finest ever written for the [[Gujarati theatre]].{{sfn|Baradi|2003|p=193}}

The play played an instrumental role in spurring [[Mahesh Dattani]]'s interest in theatre.<ref name="Mukherjee 2015">{{cite web|last=Mukherjee|first=Oindrila|title=Why Mahesh Dattani will start afresh and not fade away|website=Scroll|date=10 October 2015|url=http://scroll.in/article/761222/why-mahesh-dattani-will-start-afresh-and-not-fade-away|access-date=19 September 2020|archive-date=7 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207202159/https://scroll.in/article/761222/why-mahesh-dattani-will-start-afresh-and-not-fade-away|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Bharadwaj2020">{{cite web|last=Bharadwaj|first=Sanskrita|title=A destiny's child|website=Hindustan Times|date=8 January 2020|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/a-destiny-s-child/story-sVvXUOf0WT5PMEQLueNiXK.html|access-date=19 September 2020|archive-date=11 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811094727/https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/a-destiny-s-child/story-sVvXUOf0WT5PMEQLueNiXK.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Performance history==
The play was first produced on stage by the [[Darpana Academy of Performing Arts]] in 1969. It was directed by Indian classical dancer [[Mrinalini Sarabhai]].<ref name="Ahmedabad Mirror 2014"/> The English version was first performed on 18 July 1979 at Jawahar Bal Bhawan, Banglore by Banglore Little Theatre.{{sfn|Rye|2007|p=170}} In October 2014, the play was staged at Natrani, Ahmedabad. It was directed by [[Abhinay Banker]], starring [[Hemang Dave]], Ankit Gor and Banker among others.<ref name="Iyer2014">{{cite web|last=Iyer|first=Shreya|title=This play is very close to my heart: Abhinay Banker|website=The Times of India|date=11 October 2014|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/gujarati/theatre/Gujarati-psycological-play-Koi-Pan-Ek-Phool-Nu-Naam-Bolo-To-directed-by-Abhinay-Banker-will-be-staged-in-Natrani-as-a-part-of-Sunday-to-Sunday-Theatre-festival-/articleshow/44808914.cms|access-date=19 September 2020|archive-date=7 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207202141/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/gujarati/theatre/Gujarati-psycological-play-Koi-Pan-Ek-Phool-Nu-Naam-Bolo-To-directed-by-Abhinay-Banker-will-be-staged-in-Natrani-as-a-part-of-Sunday-to-Sunday-Theatre-festival-/articleshow/44808914.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Marathi language|Marathi]] version, ''Shekhar Khosla Kon Ahe'', was staged at [[National Centre for the Performing Arts (India)|NCPA]]'s Pratibimb [[Marathi theatre|Marathi Theatre]] Festival, directed by Vijay Kenkre.<ref name="Phukan2016">{{cite web|last=Phukan|first=Vikram|title=Classic Marathi theatre, refurbished|website=The Hindu|date=2016-08-05|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/entertainment/Classic-Marathi-theatre-refurbished/article14553138.ece|access-date=2020-09-19|archive-date=2020-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109094354/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/entertainment/Classic-Marathi-theatre-refurbished/article14553138.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> The English version was again performed by Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities's Theatre Club on 23 March 2018, directed by [[Abhimanyu Acharya]].<ref name="The Manipal Journal 2018">{{cite web|last=Raman|first=Aditya|title=MCPH Theatre Club stages murder mystery|website=The Manipal Journal|date=24 March 2018|url=https://themanipaljournal.com/2018/03/24/mcph-theatre-club-stages-murder-mystery/|access-date=19 September 2020|archive-date=28 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928221518/https://themanipaljournal.com/2018/03/24/mcph-theatre-club-stages-murder-mystery/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Notes==
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=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Baradi|first=Hasmukh|authorlink=Hasmukh Baradi|translator-last=Meghani|translator-first=Vinod|title=History of Gujarati Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eWwCxY7w-QC|series=India – The Land and the People|year=2003|location=New Delhi|publisher=[[National Book Trust]]|isbn=978-81-237-4032-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Rye|first=Madhu|translator-last=Padaki|translator-first=Vijay|title=Three Gujarati Plays by Madhu Rye|year=2007|location=Gandhinagar|publisher=[[Gujarat Sahitya Academy]]|oclc=170205341}}

==External links==
* {{Google books|id=2MpjAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Gujarati Vishwakosh}}

[[Category:1967 plays]]
[[Category:Gujarati-language plays]]
[[Category:Thriller plays]]