Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 13: Natrang featured ‘Reed Ki Haddi’ a play in Hindi written by Jagdish Chander Mathur and directed by Neeraj Kant today at its Studio Theatre in weekly Sunday Theatre series.
The play carried a symbolic message that one should have the courage to take the decisions on his/her own and for that the metaphor of ‘Reed Ki Haddi’ (Backbone) is used.
The play opens at the home of one ‘Ram Swaroop’ who is very excited, busy in decorating his house as some people are coming in evening to see his daughter ‘Uma’ to select for marriage. His daughter is a meritorious postgraduate so it has been really difficult for him to get a compatible and suitable match. Frustrated Ram Swaroop is now ready to get his daughter married to a less qualified boy and to make sure that the ego of the boy is not hurt, he projects his daughter as a highly docile, matriculate girl. When ‘Gopal Prashad’ comes with his son ‘Shanker’ to see ‘Uma’, he looks for all the qualities in her, not even thinking that his son does not have any of them. Being a staunch male chauvinist, he believes that it’s the duty of the woman to take care of her husband, no matter how he treats her and strongly objects the education of women as it will make them aware of their rights and mentally strong. When this verbal torture becomes too much, “Uma’ says no to marriage and makes them realize their own shortcomings. She refuses to get married to a person, who doesn’t have a backbone to take his own decisions.
Natrang artists who acted in the play included Shivam Singh, Vrinda Sharma, Sushant Charak, Ashish Parihar, Sandeep Kumar and Meenakshi Bhagat. Lights were designed and operated by Neeraj Kant where as Vipan Singh rendered the music of the play. The show was coordinated by Mohd Yaseen and the presentations were ably done by Ashley Mehta.
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