Jump: Maneesh Verma’s black comedy uses nihilism-existentialism debate to probe urban loneliness
With actors Sandeep Shikhar and Vidushi Chadha in the lead, writer-director Maneesh Verma’s new play Jump will be staged at Ranga Shankara and Bangalore International Centre this weekend
By Reema Gowalla
Thinkers around the world have often debated over the philosophy of nihilism, as opposed to that of existentialism. One may choose to embrace the glumness of life or transcend the futility toward finding a meaningful purpose. Writer-director Maneesh Verma’s new play Jump — featuring actors Sandeep Shikhar and Vidushi Chadha — traverses both philosophies, as it throws in a fresh perspective on mental health and why an increasing number of people in urban India are slowly slipping into disillusionment and unfathomable anxiety. Jump is poised for its maiden shows in Bengaluru on April 5 and 6 at Ranga Shankara and on April 8 at Bangalore International Centre.
Commissioned by the Serendipity Arts Festival 2023, Jump is described as an “emotionally engaging and thought-provoking piece that aims at normalising conversations around mental well-being”. With the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declaring loneliness a ‘global public health concern’, it’s only pertinent that Maneesh’s play is making a sincere attempt to once again turn the spotlight on the issues of urban isolation, suicide, depression and mental health. The piece “navigates these sensitive topics maintaining the balance between humour and sensitivity”.
The 90-minute bilingual play (Hindi and English) focuses on life, death and everything in between. The black comedy is set in Mumbai, where a successful corporate executive is on the verge of ending her life one evening by jumping off a high-rise building in the city. Just then, however, a migrant cab driver enters the scene and they end up engaging in an intense conversation about how they have negotiated the various paradoxes in their respective lives. The dialogue between these two strangers, belonging to two completely different worlds, form the crux of the story.
Before coming to Bengaluru, Jump was staged as a site-specific performance on the rooftop of a multi-level car parking in Goa, while it was also performed at Rangayana in Mysuru.
A Collective Madness Studios presentation, the script of Jump is loosely inspired by US-based theatremaker Larry Pontius’ piece, Umbrella. That said, two recent incidents in Maneesh’s personal life have also deeply influenced the narrative. In a candid conversation with TheatreRoom, the playwright-director opens up about the intriguing backstories, the making of Jump, collaborating with his ‘old friend’ Sandeep and more. Excerpts:
Q. You escaped a mountaineering tragedy in 2022. Tell us how that impacted your thoughts while writing this play?
A. I have always been fascinated by the idea of death, not for any particular reason, but just as any other subject that we think about. I have been practising Buddhism (Nichiren Daishonin) for nearly 10 years. I have also tried Vipassana. So, you can say that I’ve been the person who tries to explore oneself.
While being at it, I got into mountaineering in 2019, as I am also fond of nature and enjoy travelling to different places. After doing a basic mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute Of Mountaineering (NIM) in Uttarkashi, I did an advanced course in 2022 from the same institute. As part of the course, one normally goes deep into the mountains, does snowcraft, icecraft and learns all the techniques related to the activity. In my batch that year, we had a total of 53 aspirants, and by the end of the course, we were supposed to climb the summit of a mountain. In our case, it was Draupadi Ka Danda II, which is about 5,670m high.
Normally, when you climb high altitudes, your blood pressure tends to rise. But then, it also settles down after some time. However, my BP was not coming down to normal levels, and so the doctors recommended that I return to the base camp. There were a few other people who were facing medical issues. Eventually, out of 53, some 20 people, including myself, couldn’t embark on the journey. A group of nearly 33 students and 10 instructors headed out. Unfortunately, on the day of the summit, in what can be described as one of the worst mountaineering accidents in history, the group was hit by a deadly avalanche, killing as many as 27 people, which meant almost half the batch was wiped out.
This incident shook me to the core. A lot of people later said that my high BP levels kind of saved my life that day. But since I don’t believe in god or the idea of being in luck per se, it was really difficult for me to attach a sense of logic to the entire incident. After returning to Mumbai, I constantly found myself breaking down and unable to control my anger. I even considered taking therapy, but couldn’t continue for long as these sessions are quite expensive.
It’s funny that we speak about mental health and therapy all the time, but for many people therapy itself is a privilege. Although I am known to always be on the move, this time around I just decided to slow down and gave myself time to heal from within. I started thinking deeper about life and death. All that we hear about the “importance of working hard” and that “being honest pays off” are maybe just stories that are told to human minds and we believe in them. Nature doesn’t go by these rules. Whether you are a man or a mosquito, nature doesn’t follow any logic. It’s us who try to justify whatever happens in our life.
That same year, I also lost a close friend and co-worker in the theatre circuit. She died by suicide. She’s quite successful and vibrant. We often say that art itself is therapy. Then, how come an artist like her ended up taking her own life?
These incidents made me think more fiercely about the meaning of life, death and how people cope with suicidal thoughts. Even a seemingly normal person may be dealing with extreme mental health issues. I also realised that we might think that only actors can act, but in reality, human beings in general are much better actors. We don’t let others know what we are really going through in life.
Q. How would you describe the storyline of Jump?
A. To be honest, after these incidents, instead of feeling depressed or hopeless, I transitioned into a nihilistic mode. That, I felt, was a more democratic and liberating space for me. In Jump, a Chief Marketing Officer (played by Vidushi) doesn’t fear death anymore. If life is so random, how does it matter how long we live or how much we achieve? It’s all superficial. After a point, you just become numb.
The play opens with this woman trying to jump off the rooftop of a building. But just then, the cab driver (played by Sandeep) reaches the spot. Every night, after the end of a long day’s work, he prefers spending some metime on the rooftop. So, when he found out that this woman is about to jump off the building, he frantically tries to talk her out of it, because if she goes ahead and kills herself it would also mean that he could never again use that space as his place of refuge and peace. That rooftop is the only place which assures him with a sense of belonging in the city.
Jump investigates the social dynamics of a big city, and how many people from different age groups are actually living a lonely life. They migrate to Mumbai from different parts of the country and make it their home, but they do not necessarily succeed in making any real human connections. It’s mostly working relationships that they all maintain. Urban isolation and loneliness is a real problem in today’s world. The cab driver too is struggling with the same issue. He came to Mumbai from a small village in Bihar, and often longs to just talk to someone. The rooftop is his place of comfort, but now this woman wants to end her life at that very space. The dichotomy is that she wants to jump off the building and he prevents her from doing that. And in the process, the two strangers end up having a long conversation about their individual struggles and perspectives on life.
Although the setting of the play premises on suicide, depression and mental health, it’s actually about the clashing of two different perspectives and two very different worlds; it’s about how people in these two worlds tackle common problems — be it depression or death. While the corporate executive is ready to take her own life, the cab driver cannot even entertain the thought of suicide, because if he dies, his family in the village will die too. That’s the dichotomy! It’s about nihilism versus existentialism, where the woman represents nihilism and the man characterises existentialism.
Q. Tell us about your experience of working with Sandeep Shikhar…
A. It has been really fantastic to work with Sandeep. He’s a friend whom I have known for several years. Jump deals with a very sensitive issue. So, when I was writing this play, I had sent the draft to a lot of people just for them to read and tell me if there’s anything that I need to change or revisit. Sandeep promptly got back to me after reading the script. In fact, he was quite impressed by it and expressed his interest in being part of the cast. Apparently, he had a similar idea for a play about two people, set in a park.
Casting for Jump was crucial, because I wanted the actors to be able to depict the contrasting cultural backgrounds. Interestingly, Sandeep fit the bill perfectly. He is a Bihari, who hails from Dhanbad. He understands the dynamics and struggles of small-town people living in metropolitan cities. Sandeep has been part of the theatre community for almost three decades. Thus, he brings a lot of experience and nuance to the rehearsal room. He’s also a very natural actor on stage, who is known for inducing a certain truthfulness to every character he plays. So, in that sense, it’s been like a dream casting for my play.
Q. How was it performing at Rangayana in Mysuru?
A. Recently, we were invited to perform as part of the prestigious Bahuroopi National Theatre Festival at Rangayana theatre institute in Mysuru, and it was an out-of-the-world experience! Initially, I was a little worried because our play is mostly in Hindi and English, and I had the impression of having a typical Kannada-speaking audience in Mysuru. However, given the theme, content and performance of the actors, Jump resonated very well with the people there. Now, we are looking forward to performing in Bengaluru.
Catch shows of Jump at Ranga Shankara on April 5 (7.30pm), April 6 (3.30pm and 7.30pm) and at Bangalore International Centre on April 8 (7pm). You can book your tickets here.
