It's the 21st century. Man landed on the moon more than half a century ago. There's a trace of life on Mars. But marital rape is still a debatable concept in our society. When insitutions and public figures over years said that it isn't rape if the man is married to the woman, many agreed. 

But a group of young students from the Madras Christian College's theatre group Theatre No 59 decided that they ought to do their part. So, they're staging a Hindi play named Marzi, which will aim to make the crowd aware of the seriousness of the issue. Marzi (meaning consent) is written and directed by Abhilash Philip, an MA Communication student, and Pragna Shekar a BA Political Science student. 

"It is illogical to say that marital rape doesn't exist. As students, we thought that a form of art is the best way to send the message across in the most effective way," says Abhilash. The play which has 8 characters is in a fluid format, ie, every character takes up different roles from time to time. "Pragna and I wrote the script last year and we thought it would be a good idea to present it at the theatre fest this year," says Abhilash. The duo was inspired to write the script after Maneka Gandhi's angry stance on the subject. 

Pragna tells us more about the plot. "The story has a narrator and a commentator. The narrator is the victim of the marital rape and is broken to see her dreams shattered," she says. "The commentator, on the other hand, gives a different side of the coin, often telling the narrator that she is wrong. The commentator turns out to be the narrator's inner voice."

(The play is being staged at the college on November 30)