Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Sept 24: ‘Natya Samagama’ – a festival of contemporary theatre practices, traditions and diverse cultural expressions of India was unveiled with the lighting of a ceremonial lamp by Arjun Deo Charan, vice chairman National School of Drama, Balwant Thakur, Festival Director, Suman Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Aziz Hajini, Secretary JKAACL, Bhawani Bashir Yasir, Eminent Theatre personality and Raj Kamal Nayak, admired Theatre Personality at Abhinav Theatre today evening.
Speaking on the occasion Balwant Thakur welcomed and addressed the audiences and also thanked Sangeet Natak Akademi for bringing Natak Samagama to Jammu.
Deputy Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi, said “Darkness of evil can only be suppressed by vibrant colours of cultural activities; he also added that drama is the ancient crusader of non-violence.”
The five days event has been organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, an autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Govt of India in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages.
Today, the opening day of mega festival was marked with performances of plays by leading regional theatre groups of the country . The first play Alag Mulakh Ka Bashinda, written by Rajlkamal Nayak and Shefali Nayak and directed by Rajkamal Nayak, was centered on the philosophy of life and death as perceived by Bhairav, a dome or the cremator of dead bodies in funeral pyres with the possession of the vision of seer like Sanjay of Mahabharat. He could see the decay of the world and also describes, comments and acts on the incidents of the problems of our contemporary civilization.
Today’s performance was a treat to witness the acting prowess of the solo actor Neeraj Gupta who in multiple roles brought alive each of the characters as distinct individuals.
Be it the biographical narrative of the protagonist, greed of relatives of dead burning on the pyre, selfless love of Boonda Baba, plain-speaking drunkard, poor old man who carries the dead body of his son on a bicycle, or the foreigner-Neeraj Gupta exhibited a masterly control of speech with variation of pitch and tone. The ease with which he glided from one to another role was also remarkable.
The second play Jamleela, written and directed by Arjun Deo Charan, was presented by Rammat Theater Group, Jodhpur. The comic play emerged an insightful satire on the political corruption that has seeped deep down in the society. The plot of the play revolves around the atama of an elephant which when lands up in the Yamaloka, entices the lord of death into a wager. Through machinations, the elephant succeeds to take a politician to Yamaloka. The politician through his cunning takes over as Yamaraj and wrecks havoc in the working of the Yamaloka.
The play in Rajasthani and part Hindi, came out to be an eclectic production in which folk and modern elements along with traditional background music created a visual spectacle.
Natya Samagama, which has provided a unique and cultural bonanza for Jammuites to witness the major expressions of artistic diversities of India and to bond J&K with the outer world of art. The second day will be full of hustle-bustle as the folk groups of Kashmir Bhand Pather, Surnai music and Sufiana music. The drama segment will include Sidhi dar Sidhi urf Tukke pe Tukka, directed by Bansi Kaul and presented by Rang Vidushak, Bhopal, will be followed by Yahan, a rikh and Padatik, Kolkata, presentation, directed by Vinay Sharma.
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