Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 27: ‘Balak’, a play in Hindi based on country’s most celebrated writer Munshi Premchand’s classic story, was staged here today at Natrang Studio Theatre in its weekly Sunday Theatre Series.
The play has been directed by Neeraj Kant. The play opens at the home of a writer, who is slightly disturbed to hear the news that his honest servant ‘Gangu’ wants to quit his job. As the writer was concerned about Gangu, he gives him another chance to think and also asks the reason why he wants to resign.
Gangu gives a very strange reason that he wanted to marry a widow ‘Gomti’ who was married thrice but could not get settled with any of her husband. She is believed to be a bad woman who is without any dignity but Gangu finds her innocent and a victim of lack of understanding. Thinking that his marriage with Gomti may cause stigma on the Writer’s reputation also, Gangu wants to alienate himself from the writer, just to save his goodwill.
He marries Gomti and starts living a happy married life but for few months only as one day Gomti leaves him and went to unknown place. Every one discusses the hard luck of Gangu who was very badly betrayed by a lady for whom he had discarded everything. But Gangu still holds very high regards for her and considers her absconding as some of her genuine problem or God’s will.
One day, he comes to the writers home very happy as Gomti has come back. Actually she had gone to an unknown place to give birth to a baby. On hearing this news, he went to her and accepted both of them. It was apparent that it is not his baby as his marriage was just six months old, but still he accepted the child with a very clear and open heart, considering the baby as God’s gift. He gives so many reasons of high thinking for his being so nice to the mother and child that the writer is moved and finds his thinking very petty in front of that of Gangu.
Natrang artists who participated in the play include Zeeshan Haider, Bhisham Gupta, Manoj Kumar Lalotra, Priya Thakur, Ajay Kumar Lalotra, Sushant Singh Charak and Toyab Hussain. The lights of the play were operated by Neeraj Kant and the sound was rendered by Brijesh Avtaar Sharma. Mohd Yaseen coordinated the show and Vrinda Sharma did the presentations.
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