Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 3: In its Sunday Theatre series, Balwant Thakur’s Dogri play ‘Gatt’ was staged here today in Natrang’s studio.
Based on Krishna Chander’s famous Urdu classic short story ‘Khadda’ the play is a hard hitting satire on the decay of human values.
“Gatt” shows that one and all tend to shrink their own responsibilities and pass buck to others. This is symbolized by a person in a ditch whose pleas to help him come out unanswered by one and all. Different people pass by him like surveyors, young men, religious leaders, cops, political leader and a foreigner. The person in distress is given different excuses and pleas for their inability in extending help to him. The unemployed youth are unable to find time out of their fixed schedule of hunting for girls. The ‘Sadhu’ showers blessings and prays for his peace in as and where condition. The police cop lodges an FIR and asks him to report to the police station knowingly that he will never be able to come out of the ditch on his own. The foreigner lady enquires about his choice between India and Pakistan, which side he would like to take? The situation becomes more dramatic when a Minister makes a round of the area. The workers of the Public Works Department instead of taking out the man from the ditch put wooden planks over the ditch and create a stage for Minister’s public speech.
Finally a man from the audience appears and appeals everyone to render a helping hand to this common man who is still in the ditch despite having celebrated sixty-four years of India’s Independence. The play reflects the plight of the poor masses who continue to suffer for want of help from those at the helm of affairs.
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