Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, July 11: Samooh Theatre’s Dogri adaptation of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s play Dak Ghar, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today, was a successful presentation in which the timeless theme of liberation from captivity and zest for life was conveyed in an affective manner.
Adopted in Dogri by Dr Sudhir Mahajan and directed and designed by Ravinder Sharma, the plot of the play revolves around a young boy, Amal, who is suffering from an incurable disease and forbidden by the village ‘Vaid’ to move out of doors. He lies confined to his room and befriends a host of characters who pass by his window and readily partake in young child’s innocent quest of the fertile world of his imagination.
Today’s Dogri translation, marked with adapting the original characters such as the curd seller, the Baul singer to that of a Gujjar and Sadhu singing Dogri bhajans, along with Sudha, the ‘malin’, ‘lambardar’, gave a local flavor to the play.
The imaginative use of ropes to create a cage like room of Amal, along with a window established it as a symbol of confinement. The units of hillock and a ‘chopaal’ also created an interesting division of space.
The cast of the play along with experienced actors and a few who performed for the first time also included a chorus of child actors most likely drawn from children workshop held by Samooh Theatre- gave an entertaining performance. The star of today’s performance was young Harpreet Kaur who enacted the role of ‘Amal’ with confidence as well as ease. Speaking the lines with clarity, she was remarkable for effective display of variety of emotions especially Amal’s longing and curiosity about the world, which has been shut out for him.
Other members of the cast included Ravinder Sharma as Sadhu, Sandeep Manhas as Vaid, Neeraj Sethi as Madhav, Samdhish as Gujjar, Ajay Tamang as Chowkidar, Devanshu Raina as Lambardar, Neha Kesar as Sudha, Vikram Sharma as Rajdoot, Gagandeep Singh as Raj Vaid and Chetan Charak as Raja. The chorus of children included Akshit Sethi, Kartavya Singh, Krish Magotra, Sakshav Raina and Abhinandan.
The background music designed by Surinder Manhas and Brij Mohan and songs were important elements which bestowed a poetic quality to play which a poignant tribute to the human spirit that gathers hope, even where there seems to be none.
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