Ashadh Ka Ek Din

Ashadh Ka Ek Din (Hindi: आषाढ़ का एक दिन, One Day in Ashadh) is a Hindi play by Mohan Rakesh that debuted in 1958 and is considered the first Modern Hindi play. The play received a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for best play in 1959 and has been staged by several prominent directors to critical acclaim.A feature film based on the play was directed by Mani Kaul and released in 1971, and went on to win Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie for the year.

Before it Hindi plays to date were either idealistic or didactic, devoid of connection with contemporary reality; above all their language remained the language of literature, which wasn't suitable for the stage, but this play changed it all. Mohan Rakesh went on to write two more plays, and left one unfinished at the time of his death in 1972, but he had shifted the landscape of Hindi theatre.

The title of the play derives from the second verse of the Sanskrit dramatist Kalidas's play Meghadūta. It literally means A day in (the month of) Ashadh. Since the month of Ashadh is usually the onset period of the monsoon in North India, the name can be understood to mean One day during the Monsoon.

Ashadh ka ek din is a three-act play centered on Kalidas' life, sometime in the 100BCE-400CE period. In the first act, he is leading a peaceful life in a Himalayan village and is romantically involved with Mallika. However, he is invited to appear at King Chandragupta II's court in far-off Ujjayini. Torn between his current idyllic existence and love on one hand, and the desire to achieve greatness on the other, he leaves for Ujjayini in a conflicted state of mind. Mallika wants the best for the man she loves, so she encourages him to go to Ujjayini. In the second act, Kalidas has achieved fame and is married to a sophisticated noblewoman, Priyangumanjari, while Mallika is heartbroken and alone. Kalidas visits his village with his wife and a small retinue. He avoids meeting Mallika, but Priyangumanjari does. Priyangumanjari demeaningly offers to help Mallika by making her a royal companion and marrying her to one of the royal attendants, but Mallika declines. In the third act, Kalidas reappears in the village. Mallika ( with her mother Ambika dead )is now married to & has a daughter from Vilom, a kind of Villain whom Mallika & Kalidas always hated for questioning their relationship from a worldly perspective . Mallika learns that he has renounced his courtly life and the governorship of Kashmir that he had been granted. Kalidas comes to see Mallika but, learning of her situation, despairs. The play ends with him leaving her house abruptly. Mallika, in a soliloquy says, "Even if I did not remain in your life, you always remained in mine. I never let you wander from my side. You continued to create and I believed that I too am meaningful, that my life is also productive."

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