Public Obscenities: A Play

by Shayok Misha Chowdhury

A complex and compelling bilingual play that examines the intersections of queerness and Indian-American identity. When Indian-American graduate student Choton travels from the U.S. to his family’s home city of Kolkata to film interviews with the local queer community, he relishes acting as the local expert, especially in his role as interpreter between Bangla and English for his filmmaker boyfriend. Soon, though, Choton starts to question not only what he thinks he knows about queerness in India, but what both queerness and his Indian heritage mean for him. When a rediscovered roll of film reveals surprisingly intimate photographs of Choton’s austere grandfather (taken by whom?), Choton’s understanding of his family, both living and dead, starts to unravel. What follows is a mesmerizing examination of intercultural identity, asking audiences to reconsider what we mean when we call a place home.

Genres: Plays

144 pages, Paperback

Published June 24, 2025

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5, rounded down.

A finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. I actually liked this quite a bit better than the winner (Primary Trust). Although the script is necessarily bulky, since half the dialogue is in Bangla, the native language of Kolkata where the play takes place - and supertitles were provided for the audience which are also in the script - I didn't feel like the play was overly unwieldy - even with a running time of almost three hours.

What DID give me pause is that many of the questions raised remain unanswered - primarily, it is implied that both the main character's uncle and grandfather, like Choton, were also gay (although both married to women) - but that is never satisfactorily explicated. I wish I could have seen the original production, directed by the playwright - given the difficulties inherent in, and expenses needed for, production, I doubt this will get many others.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/th...

[Renee Walden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Misha for letting our drama class have a copy before the official publication you are amazing!!!

[k-os]

Stuck the landing so hard!

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of secrets in this play, very few of which get uncovered. I finished the last page feeling vaguely unsatisfied.

[Zachary Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

He “became a picture.” That’s what we say when somebody dies. Chhobi hoye giyechhe.