Kozhikode: As the curtains came down, the packed crowd at Zamorin's Higher Secondary School erupted into cheers. The standing ovation lasted long after the 10 students of Memunda Higher Secondary School of Vadakara left the stage.
The message of their drama, Boundary, played at the 61st Kerala State School Festival (School Kalolsavam) was universal humanism, but it required enormous courage from the little actors.
"Initially, we were scared. But our teachers stood by us and gave us courage. And we performed today," Hethika R S, a class 10 student, said after a power-packed performance.
'Boundary', written and directed by Rafeeq Mangalassery, stumped narrow-minded but nosy Muslim community members and leaders, and exposed the hypernationalists, who bullied and pressed charges against those supporting Pakistan in a cricket match.
When Fathima Sultana, played by Avani S, was selected for the Under-19 national team, the neighbourhood ustad came to her home and chided her mother.
"Our girls playing cricket do not suit our community. And she is not even wearing a headscarf. As a moulvi, I will not allow it," said the ustad, played by Yuktha Anil.
But the irreverent Fathima Sultana snubbed the Ustad: "Girls from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan play cricket. And weren't you the one who said we should not go to the houses of Hindus for Onam?"
"But we went and had sumptuous sadya, and played Thiruvathira, too. Did anything happen to our community?" she said.
The angry ustad left the house murmuring: "She will bring disrepute to our community".
When the mother started to cry, Sultana consoled her by saying not to worry about the Ustad.
But the mother retorted: "I am not crying because Ustad left in anger. I am worried about your selection for the national team."
The play then touched upon the prevailing casteism in sports and the privilege enjoyed by players from the forward castes.
Sultana aced the selection despite the selectors trying to trip her.
Later, while watching a keenly-fought cricket match between India and Pakistan, Sultana appreciates a shot by a Pakistani batsman, and that's when even her ‘enraged’ Hindu neighbour targeted her. Her Facebook post appreciating the Pakistan team triggered widespread protests.
The protesters demanded her ouster from the national team, accusing her of ‘writing against India’.
With the use of make-shift black steps and frames, Rafeeq brilliantly created a cricket pitch and also a pavillion for protestors on the stage.
There should be no religion and borders in sports
from the play, 'Boundary'
Sultana hit the bouncers thrown at her by the hypernationalists out of the boundary. "In the football World Cup, didn't we stand with Argentina! Didn't we raise celebratory slogans when England and Portugal won! They had killed our forefathers. Sports is not a war. Shouldn't we be able to idolise any player based on their performance," she said.
The crowd went on a clapping spree. But Sultana was not done yet. "I did not post the congratulatory message on a war with Pakistan," she said. It was cricket.
The mother replied: "Daughter, our country has not matured enough to accept your thinking." The crowd clapped in agreement.
The mother stood with Sultana in the face of the taunting community and society's tightening barbed fence.
In the end, the youths who loved a world without borders came in support of Sultana and urged her to play again. "There should be no religion and borders in sports," they cried in unison.
Riya Sudheer, Deekshith, Devanjana S Manoj, Neha Salvia B S, Mithrabinda, Angel B and Gautham Sarang are the other actors of the play.
When the play was selected as the best play from Kozhikode district for the state school festival, the BJP protested against it.
BJP district president V K Sajeevan had said the play conveyed the message that Pakistan was viewed as an enemy country because of a narrow sense of nationalism. The script should be in line with social realities, he said.
The scriptwriter and director Rafeeq Mangalassery said those who created a controversy saw only a small clip of the 20-minute play. "Today's applause drowned all controversies," he said.
Yuktha Anil, who played the Ustad, said 'Boundary' was a message to society. "We lived the script and I want it to be played in many stages," she said.