Party

Mahesh Elkunchwar’s acclaimed play PARTY describes a party at the home of Damyanti Rane, a wealthy patron of the arts. The guests are the cognoscenti of Mumbai's “art world”. Conversations at the party - by turns catty, outraged, resigned and cynical - gradually veer toward the hero-in-absentia, Amrit, a promising writer-poet who has left the politics of the party circuit to seek justice for an exploited tribal community. In exposing their pettiness and pretensions, the party as a charade becomes a metaphor for this social group itself. The play was made into a 1984 film by Govind Nihalani, starring Om Puri, Rohini Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Deepa Sahi and Amreesh Puri, with Naseeruddin Shah in the role of Amrit.