Shadow Correspondent
JAMMU, APR 19:
Avaroodh and Andha Yug presented by Dasharoopak Kala-Sanskriti Sewa Samiti, Varanasi were featured on the fourth day of National Theatre Festival entitled ‘Theatre Carnival’ organized by Natraj Natya Kunj.
The first play of the day ‘Avaroodh’ written by directed by Sumit Srivastava ask the society who are we? Why are we? For whom are we? What is the reason we are for? But before that who this “we” are? It is not what it appears. It is also not what is shown or told. So before answering all these questions, it is important to know where and who this “we” are we referring to? Play “Avaroodh” is exploring “we”, which is either lost or which was never found. Which was a tree but now he is a bonsai tree. Or he was a bonsai tree that was forced to become a tree thus could never ever be what he really was. “Avaroodh” is a story of an ordinary human being and how we deter from our desires or dreams just to fit into the norm and never are able to reach to the potential that we have. Even if we do reach we do not find the happiness, as the thought is always behind the mind that if only I was allowed to follow my dreams I would be contented with my life. The only actor on stage Yashveer Choudhary gave mind blowing performance.
Second play of the day ‘Andha Yug’ written by Dharamveer Bharti and directed by Sumit Shrivastava is one of the most significant plays of modern India.
Written immediately after the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the play is a profound meditation on the politics of violence and aggressive selfhood.
The moral burden of the play is that every act of violence inevitably debases society as a whole. By keeping the story of the Great Hindu Epic named Mahabharata, The Playwrite, Dharmaveer Bharti, composed this legendary drama, it sheds light on the subject matter of the Great War which lasted for 17 days.
The defeat of the Kaurvas, the martyrdom of soldiers, the curse of Gandhari, the temptation of Dhritarashtra, the retribution of Ashwaththama and the pain of those guardians who only used to guard the corridors that were heard in the palace. The relevance of this drama is also present in today’s society that the race for this dark modernity is poignant towards the horror of nuclear weapons. Will someone listen, who is not blind and will save the future of mankind? The actors who put their best efforts with great timings on stage were Ganjan Shukla, Anurag Pandey, Umesh Bhatia, Manju Pandey, Naveen Chandra, Sumit Kesari, Shubham Tiwari, Abhishek Pandey, Savita Yadav, Arvind Rai, Lucky Singh, Ankit Singh and Vikas Kanojia.
On the concluding day of National Theatre Festival, Balwant Thakur’s highly acclaimed dogri play ‘Ghumayee’ will be featured on 20th of April, 2018.
