Ravinder Kaul
JAMMU, Dec 13: “A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness”, wrote the French novelist and playwright Jean Genet. The quote applies aptly to the Dogri play ‘Rishh’ (The Bear) presented by the theatre group ‘The Kalakar’s’ in the ‘Saptahik Rangdhara’ series being organized by the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages at Abhinav Theatre here today.
The author of the play Rajneesh Gupta is a well known theatre personality, who has written a number of much acclaimed plays. In this play he has focused on the dark side of the society with little or no hope for the protagonists of the play till wild bears in the jungle come to their rescue at a time when the humans have failed them. And they do act with grandeur in the end and extricate themselves from the clutches of the cruel society.
The play ‘Richh’ is based on the myth prevailing in the mountainous areas of Bhaderwah that wild bears of the area devour beautiful girls who wander in the forests to collect woods or for other works. Shobha is tortured by her stepmother. Her father laments over her miserable condition but is helpless as he is weak and addicted to alcohol. Shobha is chosen by a rich and generous villager for marriage but her stepmother marries her own daughter with him instead of Shobha. Mangal, a young villager loves Shobha and requests her to marry him so that they may settle in the city but Shobha refuses for the sake of the reputation of her family.
One day Shobha gets the stunning news that Bhagaan, a neglected married lady of the village, is missing and in all probability has been devoured by a wild bear in the forest. She also is devastated to hear that her stepmother has made arrangements for her marriage with the widower father of her lover Mangal.
On a stormy day Shobha goes to the forest to collect firewood. There she finds the belongings of Bhagaan and her admirer Jugnu and gets the idea that Bhagaan has not been devoured by a Bear but has run away with Jugnu in order to begin a new life.
There and then she decides that she will also elope with Mangal and move to the city in order to begin life afresh. Bhaderwah will hear the news that one more beautiful girl of the area has been devoured by a wild bear. Hence, Bears are doing a great job by saving the wretched lives of the exploited girls by using their identity as devourers of beautiful girls.
This dark story was brought to life on stage by six actors who acted with pathos and sorrow written all over them. Meera Tapasvi as Shobha, Rajinder Kumar Narang as Bapu, Kavya Kapoor as Bhagaan and above all Sapna Soni, as the evil stepmother Gulabo, deserve special mention. Sapna Soni, a veteran actor and director, also competently directed the play with professional ease and insight.
The music by Navneet Verma was soothing and, whenever situation demanded, quite disturbing and full of sadness. Lights by Rajesh Raina were imaginative. Make-up by Manoj Shammi Dhamir, Sets by Simran and Costumes by Pushpa Rani were appropriate. The lights in the backstage distracted the audience though.
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