White Lily and the Night Rider

The Sonali Kulkarni and Milind Phatak starrer – “White Lily and the Night Rider” was a play

written by Milind Phatak himself. The concept of this play was three fold. The changing

relation between a man and woman was portrayed. The impact of technology on relations

was discussed and the concept of borrowed personalities was highlighted.

To play was a humorous one. The language used was a mixture of Hindi and English –

Hinglish. What started as an internet love-story soon took the form of a real life one. Bhakti

Deshpande and Keshav Sanghe were two adult singles, desperate for companionship. They

soon resorted to the internet to help them find their other halves only to meet each other. The

play begins by showing a conversation between the two. They were already well-acquainted

and did not mind having intimate conversations. Soon, they meet and discover that they were

nothing like the people they thought they knew. They begin talking about life and find out

that they didn't know even the basic details about each other. Between conversations, they

discover each other and their true selves. People who were used to talking all day over text

could barely make it till the end of a conversation in person.

Bhakti asks Keshav for a clause in their relationship. She wants to test their physical

compatibility before going ahead with this relation. Keshav reluctantly agrees. As a result,

Keshav asks Bhakti to spend some days with him so they can also check their emotional

compatibility. A hesitant Bhakti, decides to return the favour. They fight throughout because

they are unable to communicate effectively.

After long periods of fights and misunderstandings and use of the internet to ‘chat’ and

resolve their issues, they finally agree to continue seeing each other and decide that the things

that cant be said will be chatted about. In the end, they confess to being who they truly are,

physically and emotionally. The roller coaster ride finally settles because the internet masks

wear off and true faces behind them are revealed.

A simple play, full of laughter was completely successful in delivering its message. What the

writer tries to say is evident. That the relation between a man and woman is changing.

Demands and specifics for each are increasing and the technology has a lot to do with

building this up or breaking it down. Hiding behind a desktop and pretending to be a person

might help initially, but in the long run, your pretence will have to take a back step and you’ll

have landed yourself in a lot of dirty mess. Whether the writer supports cyber love or not is

still a question as he criticises the lack of communication smoothness, but also gives the play

a happy ending.

Thus, we saw it as an opportunity to witness this integral part of the HLF because it talks

about the internet and relations – two of the most sought after subjects that are there.