Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Nov 13: Impressive presentation of play ‘Gandhi Adalat Mein, came as a bright beginning to the winter cultural calendar of the city of temples which normally gets a momentum after the ‘Darbar’ moves here.
Written by Rajneesh Gupta and director J R Sagar, the play in Hindi ‘Gandhi Adalat Mein’ , staged at the Police Auditorium, here today, tells the story of Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi (J R Sagar) and Kasturba Gandhi’s (Sapna Soni) complex and troubled relationship with their eldest son Harilal Karamchand Gandhi (Himanshu Darshan).
The plot of the play revolves around the father and son, who had had dreams in opposite directions. Harilal wanted to study abroad and become a barrister like his father, while Gandhi hoped that his son would join him and fight for his ideals and causes.
His father’s decision to send the office boy to study abroad, comes as a blow to Hari. He decides to abandon his father’s vision and leaves South Africa for India where he joins his wife Gulab and kids. He goes back to school to earn his diploma but fails and ends up in financial stress. Each of his schemes to make money falls through. Hari turns to alcohol for solace and converts to Islam, only to re-convert to a different sect of Hinduism. The rift between Gandhi and his eldest son grows until it is beyond repair. ‘Gandhi Adalat Main’, in nutshell is the story of a man who lived in the enormous shadow of his father, striving to discover his identity, died in poverty.
Today’s performance due to brilliant acting by all the three actors, wherein characters of the play came alive with psycho-social personalities, was a rare treat for the audience. J R Sagar was simply superb in rendering immense dignity and maturity to the character of the Mahatma. He portrayed a different but touching and humane side to his character. The torment of Kasturba, as a mother torn between her husband and son, was brought out with naturalness by Sapna Soni who delivered a simplistic yet impressive performance.
Himanshu Darshan as Hari-caught up between his own aspirations and failure to come up father’s expectations- also gives an applaudable performance. The vulnerability he gave to his character was simply heartfelt. He successfully portrayed varied emotions of anger, resentment, love, guilt through various means like his outbursts, his silence and touching admission of his weaknesses. The play staged with help from Gandhi Global family was presented under the banner of Samooh Theatre.
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