Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Dec 17: The stellar performance by amateur actors in Hindi translation of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s original Marathi play ‘Pratibimbh’ can be taken as high watermark of ongoing annual festival organized by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Staged by Pancham Society for Art, Cultural and Social Upliftment, and directed by young talented Ifra Kak, the existentialist play considered as a modern classic, is psychological churning into the minds of urbanites. It mirrors conflicts such as physical-psychological, sexual-spiritual, traditional-modern, proletariat-bourgeois, etc. Main character Danthal Babu of the play symbolizes a bourgeois; a comfort loving armchair intellectual who is living as a paying guest in cosmopolitan city of Mumbai. All alone in the multitude of people, his self- obsession has made him a kind of bewildered and desolate individual. One morning he wakes up to find his reflection missing.
The very idea of a reflection-less state (read Identity) leaves him mentally shattered. Other characters like his friend Jhanda Babu, the Aurat, Jadhu also find their reflections missing. The infatuation with illusions ends with a feeling of complete loss when characters enter into each other minds.
Designed and directed by young Ifra Kak, today’s presentation was a treat to see the amateur stage actors of Jammu giving a captivating performance. Especially when most of leading actors of the country have already set benchmarks for this abstract play which being a journey from the gross to subtle, is a scathing comment upon today’s social reality wherein people living in metropolises are reduced to nobody’s.
It goes to credit of the quartet of actors Soham Kashyap as Danthal Babu, Gurmeet Kour Jamwal as Aurat/Chachi, Rakesh Mayous as Jhanda Babu and Puneet Kaur as Jhadu, who through flawless delivery of dialogues not only kept up the fast pace but showed complete control and synchronization while gliding back and forth from the real to imaginary realms. The minimal set design and appropriate background music accentuated the overall emotive tenor of the production. Though light design fell short of expectations.
Gurmeet Kour also assisted as Associate Director. Set was designed by Vijay Kapoor, music by Surinder Manhas, make-up by Dhairya and lights by Junaid Kak. Tomorrow Bhartiya Kala Sangam will present ‘Ek Aur Birbal’ which has been written by Rakesh Roshan Bhat and directed by Kendra Rohit Bhat.
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