Ok Tata Bye Bye

Purva Naresh’s Ok Tata Bye Bye delves into the uncharted territory of sex workers, truck drivers, chaotic highways and lost innocence on the theatrical stage. Two city filmmakers set out to document the lives of two rural women who earn their meal by sexually gratifying drivers on the highway. As the two diametrically opposite worlds and ideologies collide, the notions of right and wrong begin to merge and subvert. Ok Tata Bye Bye will raise its curtains on 8th June at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai. We speak to Purva about what lead her to write the script.

Why the title? The reason is two fold. It’s a common thing written behind trucks and since the play deals with sex workers working the highway it seemed an apt title. Also, somewhere the play tries to talk about our lifestyles – where ‘being always on the move’ means that ‘takeaways’ become a necessity and everything is transient; nothing is permanent…

What interested you to explore the dynamics of commercial sex in India on the theatrical stage? It may be the world of commercial sex but it is also a unique world of prostitution which is caste based. These girls are brought up to believe that there is nothing wrong with what they are doing; that that is what they are born to do. It was this world which was very interesting.

What do you wish to communicate to the audience? When do we draw the line between right and wrong? And if being on the move is a constant mantra, then Ok Tata Bye Byes are inevitable._

Watch Ok Tata Bye Bye at Prithvi Theatre on 8th June (7pm, 9:30pm)

By: Radhika Iyengar
Follow me on twitter @radziyengar