Sakharam Binder

Morality is relative.
What is perfectly moral in one society can become immoral in other. The marriage among first cousins is a good example of this. So there is no right or wrong in morality. It seems what a society views by and large as acceptable becomes its moral boundaries.

Now what happens if an individual views his/her morality differently than what the society he lives in, believes?

I guess if he is weak and meek he might have to behave in socially acceptable norms even if he doesn’t believe in it and may face an eternal internal conflict. But this doesn’t seem to be a possibility in the first place. It’s an oxymoron. As weak and meek would have been tamed very early by the people around him (parents, teachers etc etc) and would have internalised the moral norms as defined by his society.

The interesting situation would be if a strong willed individual defines his moralities differently than the society he lives in and goes on to defy the social moral fabric with I-don’t-care-a-damn attitude. Wouldn’t it upset the society big time? Today with our awareness of the concept of individual freedom as borrowed from the West – this may still seem possible but what about of India 35 years back?

That’s the kind of dilemma Playwright Vijay Tendulkar’s Marathi play ‘Sakharam Binder’ would have presented in 1972 when it was first performed. The result? It was banned in 1974!

I guess better sense would have prevailed soon and the ban would have taken off. The play has been in circulation since then and still is a favourite pick among the Theatre groups. This week-end I had got this great opportunity of watching its Hindi adaptation at Epicentre, Gurgaon.

Sakharam, a book-binder in a small town in Maharashtra doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage and picks up other men's discarded wives who would otherwise be homeless and destitute - and takes them in as domestic servants and sex partners. He rules his home like a tyrant and the woman brought-in is given an option of living by his rules and be treated like a servant and sex-object or to leave whenever she likes. He even promises to give her a sari, 50 rupees and a ticket to wherever she wants to go.

As far as Sakharam is concerned, this is absolutely moral as long as he is truthful and upfront about the arrangement. However, what he doesn't anticipate are the complications that arise out of this arrangement, which proves heartbreakingly ruinous to everyone involved.

Sakharam Binder was initially acted by Neelu Phule. Those who have seen Neelu Phule in few of the Hindi films he did, would know what intensity he would have brought to this role of a Rural Marathi strong-willed person. It seems there is also a Marathi video available which has Sayaji Shinde in the lead role.


In 2004, it’s English adaptation was showed in New York too and after it got rave reviews in ‘The New York Times’, it needed to be extended by another week. Girish Karnad, who once inaugurated the Tendulkar festival in Pune, called Sakharam Binder the finest Indian play in a thousand years!

The play depicts Sakharam’s time with two women (out of seven or eight he brags about) – Lakshmi and Champa. The contrast between these two women is stark and also highlights a point that you can be oppressed only to the extent that you allow yourself to.