Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 15: A dramatic presentation of Munshi Prem Chand’s famous short story, ‘Kafan’ was staged here today at Natrang’s Sunday Theatre Series.
Directed by Neeraj Kant, the play revolves around a father and his son, who work as labourers in a village. The son’s wife is near the end of her pregnancy and is in need of medical attention, which the family certainly cannot afford. The poor lady cries in pain as ‘Ghisu’ and his son ‘Madhav’ watch helplessly. She eventually dies during childbirth, adding to the problems of the father and son.
Driven to extreme poverty and despair, they have no money or means to perform the funeral rites for the unfortunate women. They cannot ignore the dead body lying in their hut, and set out to ask the villagers for some monetary assistance which they get after some effort but when it comes to the purchase the shroud for her, they change their mind and rather buy liquor out of that charity money, giving consolation to their sinful souls that what would a dead woman do with that piece of cloth, she does not need anything but blessings.
The play very emotionally exposes the monster of alcoholism and the story seems to be so relevant and close to the contemporary times. Kafan which translates to a shroud in English, describes the degradation of human beings to the lowest possible level.
Natrang actors who performed in the play included Masood Qadir, Nitin Kumar, Ravi Choudhary, Rishiv Prabhakar, Sachin Bamba, Ashok Kumar and Ravinder Manhas. The sets were erected by Mohd Yaseen, lights were designed by Neeraj Kant and Music was rendered by Shivam Manhas. Mahikshit Singh Langeh did the presentation and the show was coordinated by Ashwani Bali.