Lalit Gupta
Organized by J&Okay Cultural Academy after a niche of two years, the magical journey of the Pageant of Performs 2020-21, right here, began with an opening-day fumble and likewise ended with a rumble. On the brilliant aspect, it was additionally marked by a couple of takeaways.
The Fumble: Disruption within the regular working of J&Okay Cultural Academy because of stopgap bureaucrats as Secretaries got here to the floor on the opening day of theatre fest when a sudden energy shutdown minutes earlier than the opening time occurred. The Academy officers scurrying to get the final minute sanction for diesel to run the emergency generator on the Abhinav Theatre, a tragic commentary on its working was witnessed by the viewers who needed to wait outdoors the corridor for multiple hour.
The Rumble: First time within the sixty years historical past of theatre fests in Jammu, a play was referred to as off on an unsubstantiated grievance that it harm spiritual sentiments. The closing day of the 15-day occasion on the Abhinav Theatre witnessed a excessive drama. With heavy police presence on the surface, and a houseful viewers inside helplessly watched few ‘parts’ browbeat the artists and created ruckus. Ultimately, the organizing J&Okay Cultural Academy, in a bid to be politically appropriate referred to as off the present. Thus, elevating a query mark on the Academy’s dedication to its constitutional mandate of selling artistic literary and inventive expressions in Jammu and Kashmir.
Takeaways: Each Theatre competition leaves a mark on the reminiscence. The performers rejoice on the excessive factors and grow to be conscious of the necessity for extra work in areas like appearing, costumes, set, gentle and sound designs. Whereas the audiences in retrospection muse over the themes, storylines and relish the extreme dramatic moments that moved them and precipitated the aesthetic rupture and pleasure.
Native Playwrights: The lately concluded Pageant of Performs out of the 14 featured performs greater than half had been the unique performs and translations/diversifications by native Playwrights. These in Dogri had been Rajneesh Gupta’s Shah Shahni, a shifting story of the assembly of lovers separated by 1947 Partition in addition to an ode to Jammu metropolis’s grand secular custom. Shashi Bhushan’s Dogri comedy ‘Sass Puran’ Dogri comedy play ‘Sass Puran’ as in comparison with a unfavourable picture, portrayed mother-in-law as a loving and compassionate one.
The unique Hindi performs had been Vikram Sharma’s Antanavaran, a psychological thriller, Rakesh Roshan Bhat’s ‘Mujrim Mein Nahin Par Mein Hello Hoon’, a tropical play that competently mirrored upon the empty nest syndrome confronted by Indian middle-class mother and father, and Kumar. A. Bharti’s ‘Passport’ which couldn’t be stage after misplaced protests, was comedian satire how unhealthy characters even after demise retain their unhealthy qualities. Captain Maharaj’as Kashmiri play ‘Sare Jahan Se Accha’ reiterated religion within the secular traditions of Kashmir valley. One other class was that of translations/ diversifications by native playwrights of well-known performs. These included Shiv Mehta’s masterly adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder, Vikram Sharma’s translation of Augustus Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and Rajneesh Gupta’s shifting translation of Tagore’s Kabluiwala. Additionally staged had been international play translations by Indian playwrights corresponding to Suresh Bhardwaj’s Hindi translation of Albert Camu’s French play ‘Les Justes’ titled Jayez Hatayare, S M Azhar’s Hindustani translation of Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie as Patjhad and J.N.Kaushal’s Hindustani translation of Euripides’s Trojan Girls. One other class was that of Indian Trendy Traditional performs in Hindi corresponding to Vijay Tendulkar’s Pancchi Aise Aate Hain, Meera Kant’s Ant Hazir Ho and Balwant Gargi’s Loha Kutt in Punjabi.
One of many highlights of the fest was that the actor/cum administrators outnumbered those that gave unique responsibility as a director. The actor/administrators who left a mark in each fields of appearing and route included Sunil Sharma-Jayez Hatyare, Meera Tapasavi-Shah Sahni, Gurmeet Jamwal/Mohit Mehra-Patjhad, Shashi Bhushan-Sass Puran, Javed Gill-Sakhram Binder, Sapna Soni-Antanavarana, Vijay Goswami-Pancchi Aise Aate Hain, T.S. Premi-Loha Kutt. The opposite administrators who successfully directed performs had been Rohit Bhat, Rajnesh Gupta, Vikram Sharma, Ravinder Sharma, Jitendra Jotshi and Sachin Dhar.
Proficient Debutants: One other take away of the fest was the entry of gifted debutants who impressed the viewers of their very first providing as actors. These had been Kanchan Rajput (Patjhad), Mannat Bhau (Kabuliwala), Varsha ( Miss Leela), Nisha Mehra (Pancchi Aise Aate Hain), Jahnavi Sharma (Trojan Girls). The gifted newcomers who gave spectacular present included Deepika and Radhika (Trojan Girls), Shital Bhan (Miss Leela), Nazuk Bhagat (Ant hazir Ho). Different notable performances had been by Meera Tapasavi, Pawan Verma, Sandhya Khartol , Neeraj Sethi, Pratriksha Sharma, Usha Slathia, Ritu Mehra, Gurmeet Kaur, Mohit Mehra, Vivek Sangotra, Sapna Soni, Aditya Bhanu.
The Fest additionally noticed theatre teams mounting elaborate real looking units corresponding to Loha Kutt, Antavarana and Patjhad, whereas Kabuliwala, Miss Leela, Trojan ladies, Ant Hazir Ho, Pancchi Aiase Aate Hain used symbolic and minimal units. The sunshine and sound designs of the performs left to both administrators or different novice fans got here out to be a combined affair. The long-due correct coaching and publicity by means of devoted workshops for members of teams’ technical groups will definitely assist the novice theatre fans of the winter capital additional spruce up their productions. The senior theatre make-up artists Shammi Dhamir and Kamal Sharma additionally did job in giving applicable seems to actors as per their characters.
If theatre, the socially related artwork type has to grow to be integral to the cultural lifetime of the residents, there may be an pressing want to extend the variety of awards in varied classes with good-looking prize cash, to draw gifted younger individuals towards theatre and secondly to frequently arrange theatre festivals in main cities and cities of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
