Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 24: A heart rendering performance of ‘Kharaashein’, a collage of Gulzar’s literary creations on riots was presented under the direction of Rahul Singh here today at Natrang in its Sunday Theatre Series.
Three different stories on one common plot written by the celebrated poet and writer Gulzaar were presented. The stories featured in the series included, ‘Ravi Paar’, ‘Hilsa’ and ‘Khuda Hafiz’.
‘Ravi Paar’ is the story of India at the time of partition. Darshan Singh and his family, takes shelter in a nearby Gurudwara where her wife ‘Shahni’ gives birth to twins. Meanwhile, a special train from India arrived to carry people to safer places. Darshan Singh somehow finds some space for himself and his family on the roof of the train. During night when the train leaves the Station Darshan Singh notices that one of the kids was no longer moving, realizing that the kid was dead. He quietly takes the kid away from ‘Shahni’ and tosses him into the river. While throwing the child he hears the cries and shockingly turns only to ‘Shahni’ and finds her still embracing the dead kid.
The second story ‘Hilsa’ opens at the home of a Bengali couple where ‘Kanchan’ is cleaning fish which they have to consume in lunch. ‘Bhibhuti’, her husband returns back from the market empty handed as he could not get the newspaper because of the riots. Somehow the paper also reaches their home, which was all filled with the news and pictures of gory incidents of riots. The writer has very subtly and beautifully related the pain of the girl with that of that ‘Hilsa’ fish who was caught when it was pregnant.
The third story ‘Khuda Hafiz’ is about two panic stricken riot victims taking shelter in a dilapidated place. Being unknown to each other creates the initial hitch but the common terror helps them eventually to nurture friendship amongst them.
Natrang actors who gave splendid performances in the play included Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Sumit Bandaral, Amit Brahmi, Sheryaar Salaria and Vandana Thakur. The lights of the play were operated by Aadesh Dhar whereas the music was rendered by Chirag Anand. The presentations were done by Shivam Singh.
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