Give a brief story of the play "Where There Is A Will".

Give a brief story of the play “Where There Is A Will”.

Ans.

The play Where There is a Will is the first dramatic attempt by Mahesh Dattani and it was a wonderful success. The play reveals the atmosphere of a family which believes in the thumb rule and total dominance of the old generation in the family. This naturally leads to widen the generation gap and there is never a coordination between the father and the son. The Hasmukh family consists of only of four members- Hasmukh himself, his wife Sonal, his son Ajit and daughter-in-law Preet The play opens in the dining room which is attached to the kitchen. It is evening and the father and the son are anxiously waiting for dinner Ajit talks to somebody on phone regarding some bargain of one of his office and demands five crores but his father ridicules him for this folly. He thinks that if the plans of his son are implemented, his whole business will be completely ruined and all of them will become beggars. Preeti is setting dinner and Hasmukh makes comments. He asks if the dinner is ready and that Ajit should stop talking because he is expecting a call. He shouts loudly and calls him names. Hot talks take place between the father and the son. Hasmukh shows his stubbornness and Ajit is adamant not to obey him. He blames his son for seeing dirty pictures of his cell phone and does not allow him to use it any more and finally throws it down. The phone is broken into pieces. Hasmukh is a patient of blood pressure and everybody asks him not to shout but he continues. He hates eating salad though it has been prescribed by the doctor and wishes to eat halwa which his wife has made for Ajit. He takes the whole bowl and goes to the sofa. He goes on smoking which results into severe cough and finally he dies. Ajit, who had gone out in anger, returns just at that moment and all the three of them weep at his death. The ghost of Hasmukh now comes out of his body and watches the behaviour of his wife and son after his death.

The ghost of Hasmukh stays in the home to see the reaction of different members. In the meantime, the family solicitor has called all of them to read his will and when they return, they are not only disappointed at the behaviour of the old man but they are angry with him and even go to the extent of abusing him because in his will, they had been debarred from having his money. Rather he had made a trust and an employee of the office, one of the directors, Mrs. Kiran had been appointed the trustee. It was declared that all of them will get a fixed monthly amount till Ajit gains the age of forty one. By that time, they will have to obey the orders of the trustee, otherwise the whole property and money will go to charity. Preeti is particularly angry and decides to go to the court to prove that Hasmukh was insane but she cannot because the certificate of the family doctor is attached with it. Kiran comes to live with them and they have to accommodate her. Once while searching for the Calmpose, Ajit finds a bottle of pills but Preeti snatches it and secretly throws it out. By chance, Kiran sees it and collects them. They are the pills for the blood pressure of Hasmukh which Preeti had replaced by the pills of vitamins because they were quite similar and could not be easily distinguished. She discloses this mischief of Preeti but she requests her not to tell anything to Ajit. The ghost of Hasmukh is also shocked to know that, in fact, he has been murdered and so his soul now enters the womb of Preeti and through the child he kicks violently. When Preeti cries, Kiran at once realises the truth and says to the soul of Hasmukh to calm down. Thus all of them slowly gain wisdom by the will of Hasmukh and the play ends.