Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Feb, 03
Natrang’s Sunday Theatre witnessed an intense dramatic action in play ‘Chakku’ written by Balwant Gargi and directed by Neeraj Kant was staged here at Natrang Studio Theatre in its weekly theatre series. Natrang’s this weekly theatre show has become India’s longest surviving regular theatre activity which is performed every Sunday since last record number of Fourteen years.. The play contained many suggestive & symbolic meanings which were well presented and on top of it were very well received by the audience.
The play opens at a sea shore where a young man is shown in a very disillusioned and frustrated state. He had come to Mumbai to become a hero but after a tiring struggle gets nothing, now afraid of what people will say if he goes back, he decides to end his life in the waves of the sea. When he was about to jump, an old lady stops him and motivates him to live, this sympathy generates a feeling of love in his heart for the lady who appeared double of his age. He asserts that he was never attracted to the young girls as they are sans experience and are very strange in their ways, and he longs for emotional and spiritual love which he may get from the lady of the ripe age only. One this statements the lady removed her false disguise as she was an actress and appeared before him as a beautiful young girl, which she actually was and admits that his non materialistic thoughts have kindred love for him in her heart, but to her surprise, he was turned off as soon as she unveiled her beauty and he starts negating her. As he was of the opinion that he will get only worldly love from a young girl, which was not his quest. The girl gets offended and leaves him to save her real lover who was annoyed to see her with that young man in a lonely beach. Frustrated, he tries to end his life again but this time he was saved by the mother of the same girl, who appeared exactly as her daughter when she was in the guise of an old lady. This time he was certain that this is the true love he was looking for. He purposes her, which she could not resist even knowingly that he is of the age of her son, as his words were so touching. But the moment she knows he had tried the same with her daughter, her heart was again turned to practicality and she along with her daughter scolded him badly. He was left there at the beach with the same dilemma from where the play had started. Knife (Chakku), though hasn’t done any cutting or stabbing in the play, but was very beautifully used as a metaphor.
The artists who performed in the play included Sameena Kousar, Sumit Raina, Priyanka Pandita and Brighu Sharma. Lights were executed by Aarti Devi whereas music was rendered by Shivam Sharma. Mohd. Yaseen coordinated the show and the presentations were done by Tushant Mattas.
