Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 3: ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’, a Hindi play based on a short story by Chirnjeev, was staged here today at Natrang Studio Theatre in its weekly Sunday Theatre Series. The play was directed by Balwant Thakur.
The play opens at a thunderous rainy evening when Sheela, a housewife is waiting anxiously for her husband Prakash to come back from office, as he is already late. Horrified of repeated thunders and rain, she even did not allow her maid Sukhia to leave her alone, horrified by the atmosphere, she had an apprehension that ‘Som’ is chasing her to take the revenge of his unsuccessful love. Som had one sided love for her before she was married. Once he even tried to disrupt her marriage ceremony for which he has been jailed for four years.
She visualizes as if Som is making all attempts to break open the door. With every succeeding thunder, her heart sinks and she cries for help. She becomes so much hallucinated that an act of some radio play sounds like real news of a prisoner breaking jail, even a cat in the kitchen appears as a hardcore murderer who has come to her. All the apprehensions were proved wrong at the end when her husband comes home and makes her rethink the events in a rational and positive manner.
The play leaves a strong message that one should be logical in one’s thinking and not get swayed by false apprehensions.
Sajra Qadir played the role of Sheela very impressively. She was supported by Anita Dhar as Sukhia and Rahul Singh as Prakash. Lights were designed and executed by Neeraj Kant while Anil Tickoo scored the music. Sets were designed by Ashwani Bali and Ankush Lakhnotra. The show was coordinated by Sumeet Sharma and Mohd Yaseen while Gaurav Jamwal did the presentation.