Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Mar 27: Well-Known film, theatre actor, writer, Saurabh Shukla’s Hindustani play ‘Barff’, ostensibly a story of myriad hues of human relationship, successfully raised epistemological questions of truth, reality and belief. “Is the truth what we all experience together, or do we all have our own different truths? Does truth lead to belief, or is it the belief which constructs the truth? Does truth actually exist, or is it just a manifestation of one’s own belief?”
Written and directed by Saurabh Shukla, staged AGP World Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, at Abhinav Theatre, here today, the play having the structure of a thriller is a story of one icy night in Kashmir. Dr Siddhant Kaul is visiting Srinagar to attend a medical conference. His taxi driver Gulam Rasool, requests him to treat his ailing child. Upon arriving at the village, Doctor gets shocked as there is only one house and rest of the village is deserted.
Doctor also finds that cabbie’s wife Nafisa, is a psychotic, possessive mother, whose world revolves around her three-year-old child, Jigara-which is in fact a doll only. The story takes a disquieting turn and the doctor finds himself bound up in ropes! The three characters get engaged in quarreling, bantering, arguing, soliciting and then pleading with one another to understand respective, ‘truths’ and ultimately the doctor realizes that there is some logic in Nafisa’s belief.
The compact performances by the three actors, Sunil Palval as Gulam Rasool, Sadiya Siddiqui as Nafisa and Saurab Shukla as Dr Kaul, were highly enjoyed by jam-packed audience, who especially savored the magic of potent silences between the crispy dialogues laced with philosophical imports.
Sadia Siddiqui’s successful incorporation of the Kashmiri accent, along with Kashmir costumes, props, and the eye-catching set of a wooden house-all made the Kashmiri ambience come alive on stage which for the technically perfection of stage craft, light design presented an unparalleled visual treat for the spectators.
Ramesh Arora, MLC, felicitated Saurabh Shukla the other actors for presenting a memorable performance. Tomorrow, on the seventh day of the ongoing Jammu Chapter of 8th Theatre Olympiad, organized by National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, in collaboration with J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Hindi play Namaste Jaishree Krishna will be staged by Surnai, Mumbai under direction of K.K. Raina.
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