Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Jan 5: The Hindi play, Mujhe Amrita Chahiye, presented by Nav Durga Kala Mandir, as part of the ongoing annual theatre festival, at Abhinav Theatre, here today, was an entertaining affair wherein the cast of young actors led by Dilshad Sazi, successfully exposed the expectations that society has for women and also the roadblocks that prevent them from fulfilling their destinies.
Written by Yogesh Tripathi and directed by Aditya Bhanu, the play’s plot revolves around Vijaya, a young girl who is forced to forgo her dreams to fulfill her household duties and her subsequent journey of self-discovery through the medium of theatre and plays the role of Amrita, a self-assured person.
Taking liberty with plays original socio-cultural settings, and giving Kashmiri context to the family of the protagonist through use of the Kashmiri phrases and accent, while rendering a local context to the characters also added an element of comedy.
Young Divankshi as Vijya/Amrita was successful in portraying the transition between two characters, But it was Dilshad Ahmed Sazi, as Vijaya’s father, who stood out as a versatile actor. His natural gift for comedy through an impeccable sense of timing, potent pauses and capacity to render a wide range of emotions won admiration from the audience who cheered lustily.
Other members of the cast who gave good performance included Irfana Bano as Mother, Rishab Manhas as Brother, Ishu Sharma as Bhabi, Ashish Bhat as Mama, Anil Bhat as Arvind, Shilaka Sharma as Anu, Mohit Khajuria as Vinod, Sahil Singh Rajput as Kamesh. Other actors were Sourav Gill, Rajat Verma, Suman Lata and Satish Bhat.
The set design marked with a linear placement of units of the house and the rehearsal space created difficulty for the actors to take positions after the frequent fadeouts. The light design and background did manage to support the emotional import of the scenes. Dilshad Ahmed Sazi assisted in direction.
Next performance of the festival on Jan 8, would be Rajneesh Gupta’s Hindi play Chhote Log under the direction of Spana Soni.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
