Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 1: Natrang Jammu staged Shanker Shesh’s Hindi play ‘Raktbeej’ at CSOI auditorium, New Delhi.
The play was directed by Rakesh Kumar Gupta an IAS officer (Retd) who has been very active actor/director during his college days.
The play begins with a lively debate amongst the protagonists of the play on the theme of suicide. Does every suicide by an individual mean murder by the society due to the circumstances created by it? The characters decide to leave this decision to the audience. They present two incidents to them in support of their argument.
The first incident involves a young clerk and his wife who have invited the Managing Director of the firm for cocktails in their house. The intention is to cultivate contacts with him to climb the corporate ladder. The husband plans to use the wife to entrap the boss. The wife is initially hesitant to be a part of this scheme but becomes a willing party later. The complex situation arising out of these relationships culminate in suicide. The husband in the meanwhile has successfully climbed the corporate ladder and has no hesitation in even blackmailing the boss further. The exploited become the exploiter.
The second event narrated involves a senior scientist in a research institution who attempts to cultivate the Director for getting foreign trips and recognition in his research work. He has deliberately included the name of the Director in his earlier research papers to please him and to use him to get fame and recognition. He plans to publish a major path-breaking research work independently and hopes for support from the Director.
The Director, who himself is a past master in such manipulations, publishes this work in his own name to get fame and name for himself. The climax of this event leaves everyone stunned.
Dr Shesh introduces us to this demon but leaves the question of dealing with it open ended. Does our society have the inner strength to deal with the ‘Raktbeej’ or do we have to wait for divine intervention alone to come out of this cycle?.
Anil Tikoo as Bada Purush, Neeraj Kant as Chota Purush, Vrinda Sharma as Istri, Meenakshi Bhagat as Kirti/Gunjan and Sanjeev Gupta as Manas made the characters look real on the stage. The lights were operated by Suraj Ganjoo and music was scored by Brijesh Avtar Sharma, while the sets were designed by Mohammad Yaseen.
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