India: Plays on youth, communalism win [at Mohan Rakesh festival]

The Asian Age

Plays on youth, communalism win

Oct 04, 2013 - Kavita Nagpal

Sahitya Kala Parishad’s Mohan Rakesh festival marked the giving away of awards for the script writing competition organised each year, but the first prize was not awarded.

The second prize was given to Kath Ke Ghode written by Dr Gyan Singh Mann. It was directed by Sohaila Kapur. The play is about the younger generation and their escape into dream worlds where everything is perfect.
A young middle class boy and girl work in an office together. They have the usual middle class tensions of family and financial problems. The girl imagines that she is engaged too a very rich man whilst the boy has a rich girl who will make his dreams come true. Neeraj Yadav and Jyotsana Sharma play both the characters of Praveen, the rich fiancée Pradeep, Meenakshi and Shalini.
The comical boss is played by the veteran actor Ashok Dhawan. The play is very sprightly and moves at a brisk pace. The title implies the impossibility of movement in a wooden horse. Here it is the economically straightened middle-class which cannot move out of it’s groove and fulfil its dreams. The writer takes a rather pessimistic view of life but has written a lively play.
The third prize was shared by two plays Santosh Kumar Nirmal’s Ram Kabhi Marta Nahin directed by Lokenndra Trivedi, which tackles the problems of communalism and brotherhood. The play gives the message that people who are spreading hate in the name of religion and caste and creed are enemies of society and the nation.
Historically India has a long tradition of the participation of both communities in celebrating Hindu and Muslim festivals. Muslims acting in local Raamleelas is also part of tradition. In Bilaspur where the play is set, communal forces are at work to prevent a harmonious Dussehra. It is in this context that the writer raises the question: Can Ram be caught in any Hindu-Muslim slot?
The other third prize winner Sapnon Ki Dehri Ke Us Paar written by Aditi Jain and directed by Krishnakant had an interesting style of speech which was true teenage jingo and sounded fresh as delivered by the protagonist, the young daughter of a middle class couple. The young girl is a happy go lucky teenager who finally falls in love with a boy who does not belong to the community.
The father is violently against the liaison. The daughter is aghast at her father’s reaction. She goes and tells they boy, who in distress to commit suicide the girl follows him and is somehow saved. Then begins a period of reconciliation when the daughter argues with her father and proves him wrong, she also tells him that he should allow his wife to continue her dancing.
In the last scene, we see the wife practising Kathak. The father serves them all coffee. The play asks us how is it right to not allow a person who is considered an adult by society to make her/ his decisions on how they want to live? Naina, the girl, was played by Madhumita Baarik with confidence and éclat .The other characters were supportive to the protagonist. The play was neatly directed by Krishnakant, the set design by Atul Jassi was effective.