By Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Mar 18: Organized by Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Annual Drama Festival 2012, opened with Amateur Theatre Group’s performance of Rajneesh Gupta’s Dogri adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic drama ‘Othello’, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Directed by Mushtak Kak, the play titled ‘Oma’, though retaining the main plot of Othello, was a clever collage of traditional and the popular which for its entertaining quality won the appreciation of the audience.
Today’s Dogri version although retaining Othello’s original structure-like the love angle between the beautiful girl and an ugly but honest, hard working young man and the villain who through his vile mechanizations succeeds in creating doubt about the fidelity of the young lady in the mind of her lover who ultimately kills her and later also ends his life-laced with colloquial as well as modern expressions came out as an independent production.
The fast pace of the unfolding event supported by competent acting and the well knit background music-a mix of catchy old and contemporary numbers engrossed as well as amused the spectators.
The minimal sets and effective light design also came out as strong points of the production.
The cast of the play included Sunil Sharma as Oma, Aparna Kapoor as Raani, Sandeep Verma as Fanna, Rahul Kumar as Kaku, Indu Kerni as Rajji, Mohit Mehra as Moolraj, Shabnam Dogra as Makhani, Mohit Chib as Desa Papa, Janak Khajuria as Sarpanch, Pooja Langeh as Laali, Vishal Mahajan as Bonsi. Other members of cast were Vimal Mehra, Sourav Verma and Deepak Singh Jamwal.
The background music was designed by Surinder Manhas and lights by Junaid Kak. Sandeep Verma was the assistant director.
Today’s function was inaugurated by Nwang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Tourism and Culture while Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, was the guest of honour. Atal Dullo, Secretary Cultural Academy, Savita Bakshi, Additional Secretary, Sudhir Mahajan, Senior Drama Instructor, were also present on the occasion.
Tomorrow the Hindi play, ‘Tees Din Sitamber Ke’ by Lakshya-The Aim. will be staged at 5.30 pm.
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