Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tribute to Bhagat Singh

In a befitting tribute to Bahgat Singh whose was martyred on March 23, 1931, ‘Gagan Damama Bajyo’, a play on his life was staged by Natraj Natya Kunj at Abhinav Theatre, here today.

The eighth production of the ongoing festival today’s play directed by Abhishek Bharti and written by Piyush Mishra in 2002, based on Bhagat Singh’s life is an effort to remember the hero and propagate his revolutionary ideas among the people. The play becomes relevant especially when there is rampant corruption and moral degradation in the country.

Starting in 1965 in Delhi where BK Dutta, a comrade of Bhagat Singh in the Assembly bomb case is hospitalized, the story of the play then goes back to 1921, to come back to contemporary times in 1994 and ends in Kanpur where Shiv Verma, another comrade of Bhagat Singh is alive.

Providing an insight into Bhagat Singh’s thoughts, inspirations, perceptions and his resolves concerning the freedom struggle as well as stirring patriotic emotion in the audience, today’s performance was enacted in the backdrop of minimum sets.

Relying on combination of music and dance and visual effects relating to body theatre, the play designed as collage comprising of the important events of Bhagat Singh’s life, exhibited an almost perfect synchronization of chorus and transformations to individual characters, their movements, and the ease with which changeover from one scene to another was affected without much ado. Though appearing many a time loud and melodramatic, today’s presentation certainly provided a wholesome entertainment to spectators.

The director of the play Abhishek Bharti, who is pursuing doctorate in theatre from Punjab University, Chandigarh, certainly deserves praise for the way he has designed the overall production. The participation of such young and talented directors in annual drama festivals certainly augurs well for the future of theatre in Jammu.

Rohitshiv Sharma as Bhagat Singh, Raman Bakshi as Rajguru, Amandeep Sharma as Sukhdev, Arjun Bakshi as Battukeshwar Dut & Vakil, Aaditya Bahrti as Markand Trivedi & Jailor, Mukesh Bakshi as Ramprasad Verma & Shiv Verma—all gave good performance.

Other who also did justice to their respective roles were Deepak Singh Jamwal as Bhagwati Bhai, Himanshu as Chander Shekhar Azad, Abhishek Sharma as Gandhi and Judge, Kanav Sharma in three roles and Rakesh Dogra as Kishan Singh. The cast also included Tarsem Lal, Vijay Dubey, Tania Sharma, Meena, Niharika Sakshi, Garu Ram, Pawan Kumar and Priyanka.

Sets were designed by Kanwar Iqbal, lights by Kumar A Bahrti, make-up by Shammi Dhamir and Nidhi, costumes by Kamal Mohini. Songs were rendered by Surinder Singh Manhas, Nirbahy Singh Slathia, Monika Sharma, and choreography by Romit Sawhney.

Tomorrow Punjabi play ‘Maikoo Kaari Karendey’, by Balraj Sahni Punjabi Rangmanch would be presented.

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