Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, May 18: Bawa Jitto, Natrang’s longest running play, was once again performed to full house concluded the four-day theatre, organized to mark Group’s 35 Foundation Year celebrations at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Baba Jitto, the magnum opus and only play from Jammu that has achieved such longevity has emerged as a signpost of Natrang’s artistic quest to forge a distinct theatre language that while steeped in the native Dogra aesthetic legacy of the performing traditions also embraces the modern theatre forms like physical theatre among many other hand influences.
The play with many firsts to its credit: It, in its 32 years long artistic journey spanning shows in different countries and almost all states of the nation, has not only emerged as a cultural ambassador of Dogra culture, identity, and character but also established Jammu as one of the happening theatre centres in the country.
Natrang’s theatrical presentation celebrating the extraordinary saga of 16th century Dogra folk hero Baba Jitto, an honest and truthful farmer who made the highest sacrifice of his own life as a protest against social injustice, not only successfully imbues the folk hero with an earthy innocence but also reflects his inner strength of character.
The characteristic feature of the play, which never fails to amaze, is the manner in which the otherwise powerful narrative of the Baba’s life and sacrifice gets artistically transformed into a grand visual spectacle that exhibiting ingenuity of production design combines and intrinsically weaves a collage of native elements like jatar, gardi, karak, costumes, colloquial expressions. Which unfold with a plethora of miniature scenes in myriad groupings, sequences, interspersed by a great parade of energetic movements, dances, steps, and lyrics.
It was a great treat to watch performances of actors some of who have been doing the same role for thirty years. These included the custodians of Dogra traditional and folklore and music Girdhari Lal and Harbans Lal and senior actors like Arvind Anand as Bawa Jitto, Anil Tickoo as Malli, Suresh Kumar as Mehta Bir Singh, Neeraj Kant as Rullo, Vijay Bhat as Sarpanch/Ghaghi and Subash Jamwal as Raja who gave engrossing performances.
Rahul Singh as Isso, Mohd. Yaseen as Budda/Aadmi, Deewankshi Sibikhi as Jojaan, Sanchita Dubey as Bua Gauri and Vrinda Sharma as Jeuni .gave praiseworthy performances. The others who were appreciated included Mahikshit Singh, Abhi Bargotra, Aadesh Dhar, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Mohit Kaul, Goutam Sharma, Gautam Kumar, Akash Bhat, Raheel Sharma, Bhisham Gupta, Kuldeep Angral, Deepali Sharma, Meenakshi Bhagat, Ashley Mehta, Shivam Sharma and Shivam Singh.
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