Excelsior Correspondent
KATRA, Mar 20: Mohan Rakesh’s ‘Ashadh Ka Ek Din’, considered to be the first modern Hindi play, was staged on the concluding day of ‘ Trikuta Natya Utsav” Festival of Plays, organized by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, here today.
Presented by ‘The Performers’ under the direction of Vijay Goswami, the Hindi drama revolves around Kalidas and the muse Mallika whom he abandons in his quest to find fame and recognition which leads to his disillusionment.
The play is divided into three acts. The first act dwells upon the pleasant union of Mallika and Kalidasa. Out of sheer joy, she is totally merging her identity with him and craves to settle down with her family. In the second act of the play, Kalidasa leaves his Himalayan village and is going to Ujjaini to attain the status of a good poet and be completely involved in stately affairs. In the concluding act, he comes back to Mallika and realizes his mistakes. At the end of the drama, he wanted to marry Mallika but could not fulfill his desire.
Nisha as Mallika impressed with her portrayal of a love-smitten damsel who encourages her lover to leave in search of greater things only to put herself in hardship for the rest of her life. Neha Lahotra exhibited her acting skills in enacting the role of Ambika, Malika’s aging mother as the one on a journey from maturity to a state of withering.
Manoj Bhat as Kalidas with steady dialogue delivery and measured movements was striking in the role of a genius who ultimately comes to realize his folly of being self-centred. Vijay Goswami as Vilom, who later sires a daughter with Malika, did bring out the feud between the two poets. In the concluding scene, he seemed to steal the show upon the off-keyed Kalidas.
Other members of the cast who also gave good performances were Tapeshwar Dutta as Matul, Ravinder Manhas as Dantul, Ashish Sharma as Nikshep, Karishma as Rangini, Saugandhi as Sangini, Ridhim as Priyangumanjari, Pradeep Sharma as Anuswar and Gaurav Sharma as Anunasik.
Padma Shree awardee Mohan Singh was the chief guest of the program and Shashi Rattan and Lalit Gupta were the guest of the honour.
Nagendra Singh Jamwal, Registrar, Ddeans, Directors, faculty, staff and a large number of students witnessed the today’s play.
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