Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Mar 24: The myth that all mother-laws are villainous was effectively deconstructed by the Dogri play ‘Saas Puran’, which was staged as the penultimate performance of the ongoing Dogri Theater Festival, at the Abhinav Theater, here today.
Written and directed by Shashi Bhushan and performed under the banner of Society for Environment, Education and Modern Art, the drama, a welcome addition in Dogri comedy plays, revolved around one gullible housewife Madhu, who is convinced by her crook servant Kalu that her mother-in-law is planning to remarry her husband as she has failed to become mother after seven years of marriage. The negative feedback from her friends, neighbors, milkman, TV crew etc., makes Madhu paranoid who thinks that her mother-on-law wants to kill her. The play ends with the mother-law giving her lots of presents and saying that she loved Madhu as her own daughter.
The well-paced comedy with a few fade-outs, came out to be an entertaining affair for the audience who enjoyed the turns and twists of the plot which was enlivened by background music and light design.
Besides the noticeable performances by Usha Slathia as Madhu, Shashi Bhushan as Madhu’s husband and Deepak Singh, the other members of the cast including the two child actors also supported the production very well. These included as Seema Devi, Tatvagya Bhargav, Anuj Khajuria, Daksh Sagoch, Ishika Bali, Harshvardhan, Rajat Dogra, Rakesh Dogra, Shishupal Khajuria, Satvir Kour and Ajay Baba, who also assisted in direction.
Tomorrow, Dr Gian Singh’s play Bawa Jitmal by Hill Thespian will conclude the Dogri Theater Festival, organized by North zone Cultural Center, Patiala in association with J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages.
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