‘Situation has changed so ban my Godse play’

‘‘I had never intended that the play will be an instrument in turning the people against the Father of the Nation whom I admire as a great human being. It grieves me to say that the play is creating an atmosphere and an aura exactly opposite of what I had intended,’’ Dalvi, who had successfully challenged the State government’s ban on the play in the Bombay High Court in October 2001, says in the letter.

During and after the recent performances, people were shouting abusive slogans against Gandhi and were passing offensive, violent remarks against Muslims, the letter says.

Dalvi has also cited a reason for his sudden somersault. ‘‘When the state is going through a phase of communal violence… I do not want the performance of my play to start riots between Hindus and Muslims.’’

After protests from various sections, the State government had banned the controversial play in 1998. Dalvi had challenged the order in court in 2000 and the court had set aside the ban on October 9, 2001.

The performance of the play started in March 2002. Dalvi now says he was disturbed by the kind of response the play evoked from the audience in Mumbai recently. In the letter, he says he is ready to sign an affidavit for banning the play and file it in any court of law.

There’s a sub-plot to all this, though nobody would talk about it: director Vinay Apte and Dalvi have fallen out. The author says there have been changes in the play in its post-ban avatar. ‘‘Although I was the petitioner myself, I feel there have been changes after it reopened,’’ Dalvi told The Indian Express. ‘‘A lot can be changed by pauses, diction and tone. I wanted to show the Gandhi assassination as a tragic event. It now looks like a religious assassination when it was a political assassination.’’

Dalvi also expresses his concern over the changed context. ‘‘It is a docu-drama and in these sensitive times I don’t want the play to have such consequences like Kalyan and Bhiwandi. It is wrong to compare Nathuram to Ram in Ayodhya, as they have done in the play. I have done my bit by informing the government. The rest is in their hands,’’ he says.

Apte categorically refutes all such allegations. ‘‘We have remained faithful to the ‘censored’ script and the actors have worked hard and have given excellent performances. The play has been cleared by the court and the allegations that we have changed the script are not correct,’’ Apte says. He adds that Dalvi’s letter to Bhujbal will not have any effect on the shows. ‘‘The play is running very well and I don’t think the letter will affect the performances,’’ he says.