A Perfect Murder – A Marathi Adaptation

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Actors performing a scene from the Marathi play A Perfect Murder based on Dial M for Murder
A tense moment from the Marathi stage adaptation of Dial M for Murder, set in 1970s Girgaum

While it is common knowledge that the play is an adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, which itself was based on the 1954 play by Frederick Knott, this Marathi version is extraordinary in terms of the skill of adaptation. Everything has been so perfectly localised in the cultural milieu of Mumbai of the 1970s, in and around its Girgaum locality, that never for a moment does one realise that this is an adaptation. The credit goes to the writer, Neeraj Shirvaikar.

The team of Vijay Kenkre, the director, and Neeraj Shirvaikar have also given us the play Khara Khara Sang under the banner of Badam Raja Productions. While A Perfect Murder is a crime thriller, Khara Khara Sang is an uproarious comedy. Both genres have been expertly handled by this team, which speaks of their versatility, given that the two forms are so different and have their own unique dramatic demands.

A word about the language. Since the story is set in an upper-class household, the language has the right nuances. An interesting twist, however, is the language of Inspector Gharge (played by Satish Rajwade). He uses a local Marathi dialect, which gives the play a distinctive flavour. At one point he says, “I am educated, I have cleared my UPSC, and I can speak as polished a language as you do. But I prefer to speak in my own language, which I am proud of.”

There are some scenes that are unforgettable. For example, when Niranjan (played by Pushkar Shrotri), having planned his wife's murder, believes he is seeing Meera (played by Priya Marathe) for the last time. He walks up to her, holds her close and gently pats her cheeks as he bids her goodbye. As viewers we wonder whether there was contempt in his action, or remorse at seeing her for the last time. Meera’s own reaction was haunting. Whatever the emotion, the scene created an air of terrible finality, building up to what was to happen next.

The entire play unfolds in a single room of a flat. It is therefore the play of lights and background music that creates the atmosphere required for the crime to unfold within that confined space. It is not a typical whodunit type of thriller; rather it is a kind of “hedunit”, where through gripping situations we wonder whether the villain will get away with it. Niranjan, an incredibly slimy and suave villain, plays a classic role as the story gradually reveals his scheming and devious mind.

There are enough twists and surprises as plans fail and are cleverly improvised. We are subconsciously directed towards the elements of crime when Meera’s lover (played by Shrikant Prabhakar), a writer of suspense thrillers, explains how he constructs and solves his crime mysteries. He says he uses three boxes — Who, How, and Why — and pulls out their contents. The Why, or the motive box, contains Hate, Vengeance, Jealousy, Fear… and Love.

The narrative remains taut and it is only in the very last scene that the crime reaches the conclusion it must.


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