Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Nov 17: ‘Karagati’, a bold and experimental play, while preserving the legendary narrative of the folk hero Bawa Jitto, was successful in providing an opportunity to the audience to relate anew with the iconic character at a humane plan.
Staged on day-5 of the ongoing Annual Theatre Festival 20018, organized by J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages, the play, written by Vikram Sharma, directed by Shalini Sharma and staged by Lakshya-The Aim, ‘Karamgati’, in Hindustani/Dogri, can be considered as a fresh gush of air in a theatre scenario bereft of experimentation and creative take on contemporary scenario where hackneyed approach is ruling the roost.
The plot revolved around a teacher and a religious person deeply entrenched in the saga of Bawa Jitto. After the shock of his wife’s sudden death, he had been put in a mental asylum after he started living and enacting the characters of Bawa Jitto legendary life. When his daughter seeks the help of Manish Sharma, a stage actor, renowned for enacting Bawa Jitto’s role on stage, he reluctantly agrees but warns that since the end of the play was tragic, allowing her father to enact the role as a therapeutic measure, may prove detrimental for him. But she pursues him to give it a try but her father as predicted dies in his final performance.
Today’s presentation structured as a ‘play within a play’ added a dramatic fillip to the overall production. Which also came alive through the histrionics, body movements and gruff speech of the sick father in the mental asylum. The cleverly designed set, with a high platform, placed right in the middle of the stage, as the interior of the Asylum, was another highlight that allowed the actors to use the space effectively. Though the live background singing of Bawa’s Karak by well-known Jogi Giradhari Lal added the desired effect, its miscuing and at times high pitch drowning the dialogues was an avoidable irritant.
Sandeep Sharma as the mentally challenged father gave an impressive performance. He was successful in enacting the triggering of sporadic spells of high emotional intensity followed by the spontaneous recitation of verses in Dogri and the resultant transformation. Manish Kachroo as Manish Sharma, the actor, Bindia Chouhan as Gauri Pathania, the daughter, also gave good performances. Music, lights, costumes and the imaginative set were designed by Sidharth Vikram Sharma.
Tomorrow, Rajneesh Gupta’s play Shah-Shahani will be staged by Bhartiya Kala Sangam.
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