Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, June 5: The play ‘Pishachyatra’ which was the third presentation in Vijay Suri National Theatre Festival has become the buzz in the State.
The social media which followed the links and postings of the play on Face book by many viewers across the region has made the play secure its prized position among the top slot of the festival which was marked by three other national groups from New Delhi, Bhopal and Chandigarh presenting their respective productions.
Directed by Neha Lahotra , the renowned stage, media, TV and film artist, the play held a very tight, bold and topical issue of women exploitation which is followed by the women self empowerment that turned out to be the essence of Pishachyatra.
Positioned in some rural settings, this is a story based on a Hindustani dialect where a girl Kaya is rendered widow at a very tender age and is subjected to the ghastly rituals of an imaginary village where she has to undergo the litmus test of time.
Kaya journeys through the thirteen days of mourning ritual in the family, and being a woman from low caste having married a man of upper caste is asked to undergo the ritual of the village by balding her head. She is thrown to village heads for sexual satiations, later to be abandoned in the village for denouncement by spoiled youth who pounce upon her for their lusting hunger.
Under this situation, how Kaya manages to overcome the hardships of her ghost journey and flees away from the village to take a sojourn at a whorehouse where an intelligent teacher first becomes her client and later her mentor to help her rise above all pains is the gist of Pishachyatra.
Neha Lahotra as Kaya was her at histrionics best who portrayed the bald widow and a whorehouse keep with intellect and easy manevrabilty. Anoop Goswami , the whorehouse head as Talkhan got unprecedented applause . Also Aaditya Bhanu as Dharamdaas left the indelible imprint of a seasoned actor, while George Saberwal as Vishnu, Danish Bhardwaj as Bhudarva, Nitika Ketan Suri as Kalavati , Sonam Sharma as Puniya and Karishma as Bindri gavce scintillating performances . Munish in a small soliloquy as Duliya gathered great applause from the audience. Ashish Kohli , a senior journalist also acted as a reporter to audience surprise with his acting potential.
The play was held by Rangshala Theatre Group of Society.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
