Duvidhā (दुविधा):— ( nf) a dilemma

 

Duvidha play is a re-written and re-imagined tale rooted in an ancient Indian legend from an 11th-century folk tales collection of Kathasaritsagara. Later, the German novelist and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann did the jocular retelling of this charming story in his novella Transposed Heads and so did the Indian author and actor Girish Karnad in his play Hayawadana and now we in 2022  inspired by the original story have written our own version of this ancient tale. Our story is about entangled identities and selfhood. In a twinned paroxysm, two friends, the intellectual Shridhar and the earthy Bhanusar, get beheaded under strange circumstances. Magically, their severed heads are restored - but to the wrong body and Shridhar's wife, Rukmani, is unable to decide which combination represents her real husband. The story is further complicated by the fact that Rukmani happens to be in love with both men. It is a potent tale about longing & forbidden desires, betrayal & failure, Pagan rituals and magic.