Adhe Adhure: आधे अधूरे

by Mohan Rakesh

आधे अधूरे मोहन राकेश द्वारा लिखित हिंदी का प्रसिद्ध नाटक है। यह मध्यवर्गीय जीवन पर आधारित नाटक है। इसमें तीन स्त्री पात्र हैं तथा पाँच पुरुष पात्र। इनमें से चार पुरुषों की भूमिका एक ही पुरुष पात्र निभाता है। हिंदी नाटक में यह अलग ढंग का प्रयोग है। इस नाटक का प्रकाशन १९६९ ई. में हुआ था। यह पूर्णता की तलाश का नाटक है। इस नाटक को मिल का पत्थर भी कहा जाता है।

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Drama, Indian Literature, Classics, Adult

150 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

जन्म: 8 जनवरी, 1925; जंडीवाली गली, अमृतसर।

शिक्षा: संस्कृत में शास्त्री, अंग्रेजी में बी.ए., संस्कृत और हिन्दी में एम.ए.।

आजीविकाः लाहौर, मुंबई, शिमला, जालंधर और दिल्ली में अध्यापन, संपादन और स्वतंत्र-लेखन।

महत्त्वपूर्ण कथाकार होने के साथ-साथ एक अप्रतिम और लोकप्रिय नाट्य-लेखक। नितांत असंभव और बेहद ईमानदार आदमी।

प्रकाशित पुस्तकें: अँधेरे बंद कमरे, अंतराल, न आने वाला कल (उपन्यास); आषाढ़ का एक दिन, लहरों के राजहंस, आधे-अधूरे, पैर तले की ज़मीन (नाटक); शाकुंतल, मृच्छकटिक (अनूदित नाटक); अंडे के छिलके, अन्य एकांकी तथा बीज नाटक, रात बीतने तक तथा अन्य ध्वनि नाटक (एकांकी); क्वार्टर, पहचान, वारिस, एक घटना (कहानी-संग्रह); बक़लम खुद, परिवेश (निबन्ध); आखिरी चट्टान तक (यात्रावृत्त); एकत्र (अप्रकाशित-असंकलित रचनाएँ); बिना हाड़-मांस के आदमी (बालोपयोगी कहानी-संग्रह) तथा मोहन राकेश रचनावली (13 खंड)।

सम्मान: सर्वश्रेष्ठ नाटक और सर्वश्रेष्ठ नाटककार के संगीत नाटक अकादमी पुरस्कार, नेहरू फ़ेलोशिप, फि़ल्म वित्त निगम का निदेशकत्व, फि़ल्म सेंसर बोर्ड के सदस्य।

निधन: 3 दिसम्बर, 1972, नई दिल्ली।

Reviews

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disturbing tale of mundane existence told in a manner that makes it easy to relate— and therein ignites the fear that we are all caught up in the same whirlpool.

It doesn’t happen too often that a play written and performed over forty years ago still appears ahead of its times. With Existentialism at its heart, the play encompasses many other socio-economic themes which are hard to be overlooked.

Halfway House- A translation of Aadhe Adhure, a play written originally in Hindi by Mohan Rakesh.
I read this as a part of my course and I cannot be more thankful for it. Such are a few hidden gems that can only be found out about with the help of an academic syllabus.

A must-read if one enjoys reading plays.

[Ashish Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halfway House by Mohan Rakesh translated from Hindi in English by Bindu Batra. The original title Aadhe Adhure.

I don’t generally tend to review books that I read for college because majority of the time, the books prescribed sucks. But here’s an exception and I’m so glad that I found this gem in the garbage that is my syllabus. Also it’s a play which is even more surprising because plays are my least favourite thing in the world to read (I can’t stand dialogue after dialogue after dialogue).

This two act play is about a middle class family falling apart within the span of two days. It’s about money, success, the struggle of class and power dynamic within the members of this family. Everything here is perfect. The characters, the tension, the speeches, everything is to the point except maybe the conclusion which feels like a let down. I don’t know what I was hoping but I would have liked anything but that ending. It wasn’t bad. It was just an unsatisfactory ending to an otherwise brilliant play.

I highly recommended it if you are into plays

[Priyanka Maurya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adhe Adhure : A Play in Two Acts
Has it ever happened to you that after reading a piece of art, a sense of discomfort looms over your head, putting you at unease with every passing second? And surprisingly this discomfort feels sooo good and welcomed !!

Reading Adhe Ahure by Mohan Rakesh was one such experience for me. An utter bliss!! I can only imagine how wonderful the experience would be of watching a play like this unfolding in front of one's eyes on a stage.

A play about a dysfunctional family, their unstatiable desires, their unfulfilled urges, their reversed gender roles accompanied by their sense of humiliation, their disappointments, their never ending search for a better life, stifling them in each other's presense however unable to break the ties of their twisted co-dependency on one another.

The title encapsulates the play aptly. THEY ARE INDEED 'ADHE-ADHURE'.
The story is not the only aspect of this play which makes it classic. Rather, it is the words, the dialogues, the lines written by Mohan Rakesh which makes it spellbound. Even after having read the play months ago, I can still feel the words echoing in my ears, making the characters alive in my mind along with their complexities.

That's the beauty of literature; words weaved in ways which linger into one's mind, insidously seeping into one's consciousness, letter by letter, leaving indelible marks. This is one of the classics and a must read for all.

I am going to read and re read this play because I am confident that with every read, I am going to be left speechless, wanting for more.

[Arun Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant. Extraordinary.

[Shivangi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, the small thing all over again…
By Mohan Rakesh

Halfway House is an English translation of the Hindi drama play, titled “Aadhe Adhure”. I had read this book for my English class and I remember reading this and having that deep, sad but yet wholesome moment where I don’t feel like complaining about but I know I want to say something for it.
Sorry for confusing you, lol. Let’s jump in to the blurb.
‘Halfway House’ means choosing to compromise and on that note, the story revolved around this family that is stuck in this very closed-knit-web situation of toxicity and insecurity. And nobody gets out of it. It’s a family that keeps fighting with each other but is highly dependent on each other. There’s the woman called Savitri who does all the work of the house and of outside. Her husband, Mahendranath has recently lost all his money and is dependent on his wife. Their son doesn’t want to work, their eldest daughter keeps leaving her husband’s house and no one listens to the youngest. The whole concept of this story is based on the compromise that they all do for each other as they progress through their sad, miserable lives. Hence the name, “Halfway House”.
What really attracted me to this quick read was the fact that this book ends exactly where it starts. Nothing really changes in anyone’s situation and there’s no character development. Again, hence the name of the book, the halfway house.
I know a lot of people don’t really like open ended endings. I know, I don’t like that but this is also the sole reason why it stood out to me. Everyone remains flawed throughout the story, although we do get a whole lot of exposition on backstory by the end of it, along with the reasons why they always stick up with each other no matter what.
It had that helpless feeling of not having an end solution which made it a little tragic but there’s a lot of active mentioning of concepts like independence (financially and emotionally) and how the situation of past predicts the future as well as how people affect one another.
It’s a short story, so definitely the pacing is pretty much catches up and doesn’t slow down. I did like the symbolism in this play, which was pretty unusual— a single man is given multiple roles because one of the characters evidently see the lot of them as ‘just the same’ which I could never have predicted. That was a good one!
There’s also a mention of sensitive topics like domestic abuse (although there’s nothing explicit), so if that is something that makes you feel uncomfortable, please don’t read it.
Overall, there’s not really much to talk about in this book except for maybe a few couple of hidden symbolisms that people rarely notice and the relationships between the morally grey misfits of the said family. I guess, I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars  Although I would recommend this to anyone if they want to read an Indian classic drama play for its uniqueness.

[Ashutosh Rai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best plays I have ever read in Hindi. Layers keep opening up as the play progresses and the the author is able to change the perspective of the reader/viewer so many times. It leaves you with a kind of heavy feeling and stays with you for a long time. The characters are flawless and realistic. So realistic that you can relate to each and every one of them, and that's what makes this play awesome. The fact that we are all the same and the quest for living with a "complete" person doesn't get you anywhere has been highlighted beautifully. A must read for anyone who is interested in contemporary Hindi literature. This is classic.

[Simple · Rating 4 out of 5]

The monotonous life is described in this book in a very realistic and relatable way . The characters are very well understood through there conversations and the author has not wasted any time in describing them additionally!
The end conversation between savitri and Juneja keeps us guessing who is right and who is wrong or both are guilty of bringing there marriage to shambles . The human traits of greed, ambition , love, trust , tyranny are showcased in a brilliant way .

One of the best books to read on a middle class family life!

[Sidra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to write an analytical, self-satisfying review for this, but I am unable to because of how uncomfortably relatable it is. You watch this family tear each other apart, and at first, their endless cycle of leaving and returning feels like absurdity. But it’s just a hyper-realistic trap. The characters aren't stuck in a philosophical void, they are paralyzed by their own psychological damage, their inability to make choices, and a domestic environment that infects everyone in it. It shows how the lack of balance in one generation becomes the inescapable prison of the next.

[Neeraj Pandey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A below average play.

[Harshit Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a play, I quite liked it, even though I read it rather than watch. The way imperfections of people come out in the play were attention-grabbing and yet telling, giving you feeling that things like these happen.

[MINOR SPOILER] And yet, there was a major concern about the way domestic violence appears to be legitimised in a way. That alone makes me mark it at 4 instead of a 5. [SPOILER ENDS]

[Fidamehrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cant read ????

[Unnati Puri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read .. I read it in two-three days. ( My fastest 😬😬)

[Aryan Sandhya Anand · Rating 2 out of 5]

This play is about modern loneliness within social structures. The title of the play itself is the biggest clue. Every character in the play is incomplete, which is not the tragedy; the real tragedy is expecting completeness from others.
In this play, no one is fully wrong and no one is fully right. Many people misread Savitri as greedy, characterless, and merely dissatisfied, but in reality she is searching for stability, craving respect, and desperate for meaning.

The men in the play represent failed ideals ‐ strength without empathy,
authority without responsibility, and
sensitivity without courage.
None of these qualities, in isolation, can sustain a relationship.

I found marriage portrayed as a pressure cooker in this play. Marriage is not presented as a solution that completes an individual; instead, it reveals existing fractures. Expectations begin to suffocate when identity is weak.

In the end, I conclude that marriage is not the solution one looks for to compensate for personal emptiness.

[Avinash Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

आधुनिक रंगमंच और नाटकों में मोहन राकेश जी के "आधे-अधूरे" का महत्व अद्वितीय है। परतंत्रता की बेड़ियों से देश जब बाहर निकला, तब परिवारों और परिवारों के सदस्यों का आपसी समीकरण तेज़ी से बदला। भूमिकाएं बदलने लगीं, महत्वाकांक्षाएं बढ़ने लगीं और महत्वाकांक्षाओं के साथ अपेक्षाऐं भी।
"आधे-अधूरे" यूँ ही पढ़ने पर एक बिखरे हुए परिवार की कहानी जान पड़ती है। पर यदि आप इसके चरित्रों के साथ रुक पाये, थोड़े ठहराव के साथ इनसे मिल पाये और इनके अंतस् से संवाद करने का दुस्साहस कर पाये, तो आप मनोविज्ञान के उस तल पर होंगे जिसे तलाश पाना आसान नहीं।
प्रथमदृष्टया हो सकता है, आपको यह नाटक सतही लगे या जमे ना। पर रुकेंगे तो सतहें खुलने लगेंगी। गहराई में उतरते-उतरते गला भर आएगा। ऐसा लेखन आसान नहीं। चरित्रों को ऐसी मानवीय और बहु-स्तरीय परतों में सहेजना जीनियस स्तर का काम है।
किसी भी चरित्र से आप प्रेम नहीं कर पाते और ना ही नफ़रत। किसी को सही ठहराना किसी और के लिये तुरंत अन्याय हो जायेगा।
इस पर बहुत कहने से खुद को बचाते हुऐ, कुछ और समय इसके साथ गुज़ारूंगा। गहराई में उतरना है। यह सामान्य नाटक नहीं है।

[Deepak Kashyap · Rating 4 out of 5]

१. परिवार को समाज की एक छोटी इकाई ही समझें तो यह जान पड़ना भी वाज़िब है कि दोनों ही में काफी स्पष्ट रूप से एक ऊंच-नीच, या बड़े-छोटे, का एक ढांचा स्थापित है। सभी सदस्यों के किरदार ध्यानपूर्वक लिखे गए हैं। आप वही कीजिए जो आप को कहा गया है। निर्धारित रास्तों से ना भटकिए, जुर्माना हो जाएगा, निर्धारित रूप‌ से। पर जब किसी वन में दो रास्ते दिख ही जाऐं, तो कुछ प्रसिद्ध ‌कवि‌ कम चला हुआ रास्ता ही चले हैं।

२. अन्ततः संसार की मांया से लौटकर, खुद की ईकाई में स्वयं को परसन्न पाना एक उपलब्धि ही तो है। लेकिन खुद को पूरा पूरा खुश भी कौन ही कह पाया। भूत सुनहरा ही रहा है,‌और भविष्य कुछ भय-भरा। गुज़रते हुए वक्त को जकड़ने की ही सारी साज़िश है। मृगतृष्णा सा मोह पिया का,‌ नाता तेरा मेरा। और माया मरी ना तृष्णा मरी। कोई मानस टापू नहीं है, सब एक दूसरे का हिस्सा हैं, सब एक दूसरे में समाए हैं। मैं आधा हूं, तुम अधूरी हो।

"नूर"/१६.१२.२०२४

[Shivani Rohella · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lumps of clay! All of you...lumps of clay!"
🏚
Halfway House is a translated version of the play Aadhe Adhure by Mohan Rakesh. The play is a reflection on human behaviour and a common man's dilemma. All the characters in the play are incomplete, fragmented and face identity crisis.
🏚
The above quote highlights this scenario where the people live and act like lumps of clay, without a definite identity and a purpose in life. They live in a house, not a home. They live a loveless life, have bitterness towards each other and they simply exist in the world, without living their life for good. It is a story of hopelessness, ruin and fragmentation, which is sadly the reality most of the families today.

[Himanshu Varshney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating, i started reading with my usual target of 20 pages at a time. I was so engrossed in the characters and the story that I finished this in two sitting. Characters are vivid, and the conversation so real that relating to them is natural.

A common problem of every other human being who always seek completeness from outside. His perception of getting the fulfilment from material things always leaves him/ her with disappointment, frustration and regrets in later stages.

[Himali Kothari · Rating 4 out of 5]

So relatable. And the spiral-ness of it all... It comes back but does not form a circle, there is a shift like in a spiral. People and situations caught in a rut. They want an out? Or do they? Or is it about going around till life's end...

[Nandini Aswal · Rating 5 out of 5]

'आधे-अधूरे' न केवल एक टूटते हुए दांपत्य जीवन की कहानी है, बल्कि यह भारतीय मध्यम वर्गीय समाज में फैले भावनात्मक शून्यता, असंतोष और असुरक्षा की भी गहरी पड़ताल करता है। यह नाटक एक साधारण से घर की पृष्ठभूमि में घटित होता है, लेकिन इसके किरदार और उनके बीच के संबंध असाधारण रूप से जटिल और यथार्थवादी हैं।

[Akshita Rawat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halfway House or Aadhe Adhure wonderfully portrays the breaking away of human relations and a crumbling society through the story of a family.

[Kunal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written. Layered, subtle. Everyday and yet so special. Mohan Rakesh is a master.

[Mohd Mazhar]

Google

[Soumyaa Tiwari · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Aditya Pandya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in Hindi, thanks.

[Libra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play honestly gives vibes of Ibsen's and Edward Albee's dramas. Mohan Rakesh has presented a very typical, and dull middle class Indian family where every member is spending life in failure. The blame game is at peak among characters which raises question that who really is victim in modern society? The man or the woman.......

[Parichita Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not aware about this book and came across while I searching for the play. It was one of the most interesting finds.

I had already watched an enactment of the play on which the book was based, but despite this I enjoyed the book. Mohan Rakesh is a masterful story teller who weaved the scene as if it is directly out of the real life. A woman struggling to find perfect qualities in different men and yet feeling discontented. The story is about a daughter (my favorite character) who believes that she is unhappy because the vestiges of the home-strife are forever embedded in her heart. I do feel that the book does not favor the women at all, yet it is a story which has stayed with me for long.

Overall an amazing find.

Full review can be read at my blog

[Na Bi Ha · Rating 5 out of 5]

After you finish reading, for a while you may feel blank. People are so quarrelsome in reality. You may definitely relate some situations of argument which may have happened in your life.

We admit or not, we really are hateful of some and some other hate us.

Dark sadness may conquer you when you are reading last couple of dialogues. But there is no hope. The fight will never end.

Blame game is there.
Domestic violence is marked. Family is fragmented. Greed snatches away mental peace.
No flowery word exists. Elopement is there. None tolerates none. Scent of extra marital relationship is sensed. Perspective varies. A third person is always there to interrupt in the family matter. Financial instability can be felt.

Each and every evil deed completes them.

Still the members of that family can't live without each other. Sometimes people get used to toxicity. Maybe that's the irony!

[Adwitiya Dube · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some homes are lived in together, but endured alone.

This work is a sharp, unsettling portrait of a middle-class family held together more by necessity than connection.
At the center is Savitri, who carries both financial and emotional weight, while every relationship around her slowly reveals its fractures through daily conflict, dependence, and quiet resentment.

Mohan Rakesh builds the drama not through events, but through exposure—peeling back ordinary conversations to reveal emotional incompleteness and suppressed dissatisfaction.

Its strength lies in how familiar it feels even today. In the age of urbanization and nuclear families, its themes of distance within closeness, and living together without real understanding, remain sharply relevant.

[Akanksha · Rating 5 out of 5]

इस नाटक को हिंदी साहित्य के उच्चतम नाटकों में यूँ ही नहीं गिना जाता । तह दर तह मानवीय संबंधों, खोखले समाज द्वारा स्थापित आदर्शों और आर्थिक परिस्थितियों से निरंतर जूझने के क्रम को ये नाटक बख़ूबी बयान करता है ।

[Ashish Agrawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely has a play left me so raw.

Adhe Adhure is not just about an incomplete family, it’s about all of us — forever looking for completeness outside, when maybe, it doesn’t even exist.

Mahendranath’s helplessness hurt like it was mine.