Play showcasing drug-menace staged at Palli

A scene from Balwant Thakur’s play ‘Aag’ presented by Natrang at village Palli.
A scene from Balwant Thakur’s play ‘Aag’ presented by Natrang at village Palli.

Excelsior Correspondent

SAMBA, Apr 25: Balwant Thakur’s Hindi play ‘Aag’ was staged here today at village Palli in Samba under the direction of Neeraj Kant.
The play showcases how the drug-menace is ruining the generations and thus crippling the developing nations. The play was showcased with the support of J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages.
The play was not based on one story-line but as an experiment multiple stories were woven by the playwright in one theme focusing the spread of drug menace like a fire, taking the toll of the important work force of the country.
In one sequence, a young boy is shown struggling for a good company after his passing of the school and entry in the college. He is isolated for not being the consumer of intoxications. All around him treat him like a child which really frustrates him and to prove that he has grown-up as a young man now, he finds the easiest way and demonstrates his coming of age by consuming a variety of intoxications.
In another sequence, a rural inhabitation particularly the men-folk is shown drowned in the menace of alcohol. All the miseries of the village like poverty, domestic violence and ailments are attributed to the growing consumption of alcohol in the village. In the sequence, the daily routine of a villager is shown who consumes the whole of his daily earnings for alcohol. Having drunk he has lost his way home. By the time a local escorts him to his place where in the middle of the night the drunken man starts beating his sleeping wife and kids for not receiving him on his arrival. When the escort intervenes to save the poor lady and children, he is blamed for having bad intentions towards his wife. This fight further messes up when a drunken man after losing senses damages his household property as well. The play unfolds a series of incidents where people influenced by drugs, alcohol and other intoxications create hell for themselves as well as for others.
Through this play, Balwant Thakur has tried to make an appeal to save mankind from this dragon. Actors who outshined in their respective performances, included Neeraj Kant, Mohd Yaseen, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Sushant Singh Charak, Meenakshi Bhagat, Sanket Bhagat, Shivam Singh, Vishal Sharma, Sagar Gupta, and Kushal Bhat.