Reflections on Silvatein: The Wrinkles in Time

A play that stayed with me long after the lights came back on....

Rupali and Arijit - two strangers, or perhaps not, caught in the folds of time.

I recently had the opportunity to watch a play called Silvatein: The Wrinkles in Time, and honestly, I haven't been able to get the characters or the story out of my head. While I'm not here to dissect the technical side of the production, I want to share the profound impact this experience left on me. Often, when we watch a play, we laugh, cry, or feel a fleeting connection, and then we move on with our day as if nothing happened. This time was different. I was feeling a bit under the weather and wasn't expecting much, but the moment I entered the space and the play started, something immediately clicked, and I got drawn into the act. You know that feeling when something finds you at exactly the right moment? That's what this was.

The stage - candles, scattered objects, a domestic purgatory lit in violet hues.

The intimate audience, seated on the floor, drawn into a world bathed in purple light

The production, brought to life by the Qissa Collective - a theatre group dedicated to telling stories where women's voices lead the stage, celebrates the resilience, complexity, and creativity of women across diverse worlds. You could feel that commitment in every moment of Silvatein.

The Story Within the Creases

So what is Silvatein really about? A man and a woman, both headed somewhere they won't tell you about, cross paths. The man, Arijit, is absolutely certain this woman is the wife who once left him. But Rupali? She insists

she has never seen this man in her life. And from there, what unfolds is this gripping back-and-forth

where old memories keep crashing into the present while the future just won't wait. You're left sitting

there wondering - did these two really share a life together, or is one of them constructing an entire

relationship from thin air?

Is this even real?" - that's the question the play forces you to sit with as you witness the differing accounts of lives lived.

The setup was simple, but within that simplicity, it transported us to a place that felt beyond this world, to a time that didn't exist. It explored the lives of characters who, while seemingly far removed, resonated deeply with the universal experiences of many. At its core, the play made me think about "silvatein" - a term that brings to mind the way a cloth folds and wrinkles. Perhaps the play took place within one of these creases, or perhaps it was simply trying to iron out the old creases of our lives.

The story was linear, yet it felt strangely non-linear, as if the characters were stuck in a purgatory of their own making, repeating the same actions over and over. It made me reflect on our own actions - how often do we repeat the same patterns? How often do we do something for someone, only to "bank it" and hold onto it as a favour owed? The play challenged my perception of altruism and the subtle motives behind our daily interactions.

The team behind the play describes it beautifully - Silvatein is an autopsy of incompatibility, a shared autopsy where two people who have encountered one another somewhere, someday, are reflecting on a failed relationship. It is this encounter that survivors of failed and traumatic relationships have played out in their heads, that Silvatein seeks to represent. And having watched it, I can tell you - it does exactly that, with an unsettling precision.

The Ones Who Brought It Alive

Ujani Ghosh as Rupali

 Sagnik Sinha as Arijit

The intensity of the dialogue - every word weighed, every silence measured.

The play features brilliant performances by actors Ujani Ghosh and Sagnik Sinha. Their portrayal of Rupali and Arijit brings a raw, authentic energy to the stage that is hard to shake off. You know when you watch someone perform and you forget that they're performing? That's what these two do. They don't act - they live those characters, and in doing so, they make you live them too.

Ujani's Rupali is something else entirely - there's a quiet storm behind her eyes, a carefully guarded pain that surfaces only in the creases of her expressions. And Sagnik's Arijit carries this desperate need to be recognised, to be remembered, to hold on to something that may or may not have existed. Together, they create a dynamic that is at once unsettling and deeply familiar.

The Mind Behind the Wrinkles

Written and directed by Shatarupa Bhattacharyya, Silvatein is the kind of play that could only come from someone who has lived through what the characters go through. Shatarupa isn't new to theatre - she has been at it for over fourteen years now, working in both Hindi and English, collaborating with various theatre groups and some really respected names in the field. She got her start in Hyderabad, trained under several eminent practitioners, and today she sits on the Managing Committee of Bangalore Little Theatre while continuing to work with other groups across the city.

What struck me most was learning, from her director's note, that this play is deeply autobiographical in spirit. She wrote it because she had been through difficult, failed relationships herself - and like most of us, she couldn't stop replaying them in her head. You know how it is, right? You keep imagining what you'd say if you ran into that person again, how the conversation would go, what you'd finally get off your chest. Silvatein is essentially that imagined encounter, staged for all of us to witness. That kind of vulnerability - putting something so raw and personal out there for strangers to watch - takes a different kind of courage.

All it takes is one moment - one passing, fleeting moment - to change the course of your life forever.

What Stayed With Me

Silvatein: The Wrinkles in Time wasn't just a story about a lover finding their partner; it was a deeper examination of the mundane things we take for granted, the unspoken messages we ignore, and the connections that bind us. It was a play that demanded reflection.

The title itself captures the essence - how the "silvatein" or wrinkles serve as metaphorical markers of time, experience, and the inevitable passage of life's moments. It suggests a profound meditation on memory - how the past folds into the present and how the traces we leave behind define the architecture of our current relationships. The play masterfully illustrates that while time may move forward linearly, our internal experiences remain textured and layered, much like fabric that has been creased by repeated use and heavy burdens.

Silvatein has been performed across some remarkable venues - Medai, Ranga Shankara, Jagriti Theatre, and Bangalore International Theatre in Bengaluru; MAAH Space in Jaipur; Rangakarmee and The Urban Theatre Project in Kolkata; the Alwar Theatre Festival; and even the School of Drama and Fine Arts in Thrissur. The fact that this play has travelled so far and resonated with such diverse audiences tells you something about its universal core

If you ever get the chance to see Silvatein: The Wrinkles in Time, I highly recommend you do. It's a thought-provoking experience that might just leave you questioning the "creases" in your own life. And isn't that what good theatre is supposed to do? Not just entertain you, but unsettle you a little, make you carry something home that wasn't there before.