Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, July 8: Vomedh Rangmanch’s presentation of ‘Khoya Bachpan’, emerged as a captivating artistic take on the nearly three decades of Kashmir unrest which has scarred the childhoods of generations of children on both sides of the Pirpanjal: the Kashmiri Pandit children born in exile are suffering from identity issues, the Muslim children of Kashmir are the innocents thrown into a theatre of violence perpetuated by anti-national forces.
Written by young playwright Rakesh Roshan Bhat of ‘Ek Aur Birbal’ and ‘Chopayer Gaash’ fame, and directed by Rohit Bhat, today’s play in Hindi at the Abhinav Theatre, here, was witnessed by a houseful of KPs from all walks of life along with community leaders.
The play’s plot opened in a migrant Kashmiri Pandit home, where the ritual painting on the door indicates that a marriage is going to be solemnized here. The conversation among the children brings out the loss of moorings due to uprooting from the homeland. The arrival of a family friend from the Valley as a guest who has come to Jammu for the treatment of his young son Altaf gives an opportunity to the children to mingle. Altaf who has never been out of Valley and has turned into a stone pelter by his uncle, whose own children are studying in a north Indian city and after his exchange with KP children realizes how he has been misled and confronts his father.
The play also makes a general comment about the growing tendency of parents to impose their own unfulfilled dreams upon children at the cost their aspirations and natural talents.
Today’s content-heavy play, in the background of Vir ji Sumbli’s artistic marked with props like ‘Tumbaknari’, Kangri, a willow basket, along with folk painting on the door and enacted by a team of senior and first-time actors, was well received for its thoughtful content presented through dialogues full of allusions to everyday life situations faced by migrants. Kusum Tickoo as Altaf mother in the dream sequence was at her best. Others who gave good performances included Vijay Goswami, Rajni Bhatti, Puneet Bali, King C Bharti, Koser Chandpuri, Ishu Bharti Pandita, Sumita Bhat, Kusheen Bhat and Pummi Zutshi as mother’s voice.
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