DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
JAMMU, Mar 18
Preserving the legendary narrative of the folk hero Bawa Jitto, Karamgati’, a bold and experimental play, was successful in providing an opportunity to the audience to relate anew with the iconic character at a humane plane. Written by Vikram Sharma and directed by Sapna Soni for The Kalakar’s , the play was performed under the aegis of Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
It was first performance at newly carved out theatre cum writer hall at Dogri Sanstha and was presided over by Padam Shri Balwant Thakur as chief guest and former chairman Municipal Corporation Jammu , Kiran Wattal as guest of honour .
Written in Hindustani/Dogri, Karamgati was a fresh gush of air in a theatre scenario bereft of experimentation and creative take on contemporary scenario where hackneyed approach is ruling the roost.
The plot revolved around a teacher and a religious person Dineshwar Oberoi deeply entrenched in the saga of Bawa Jitto. After the shock of his wife’s sudden death, he had been put in a mental asylum after he started living and enacting the characters of Bawa Jitto legendary life.
When his daughter Gauri seeks the help of Ankush Gupta, a stage actor, renowned for enacting Bawa Jitto’s role on stage, he reluctantly agrees but warns that since the end of the play was tragic, allowing her father to enact the role as a therapeutic measure, may prove detrimental for him. But she pursues him to give it a try but her father as predicted dies in his final performance.
The presentation structured as a ‘play within a play’ added a dramatic fillip to the overall production which also came alive through the histrionics, body movements and gruff speech of the sick father in the mental asylum. The cleverly designed set, with a platform, placed right in the middle of the stage, as the interior of the Asylum, was another highlight that allowed the actors to use the space effectively. The live background singing of Bawa’s Karak by well-known Jogi Giradhari Lal added the desired effect. Sandeep Sharma as the mentally challenged father gave an impressive performance. He was successful in enacting the triggering of sporadic spells of high emotional intensity followed by the spontaneous recitation of verses in Dogri and the resultant transformation. Himanshu Darshan as Ankush Gupta, the actor gave a spell binding performance while Sapna Soni as Gauri Oberoi , the daughter, was at her best in yielding to the pressure of daughter in distress .
Pushpa Soni‘s expertise on costumes and Shalini Sharma’s in make-up and was quite well knitted while music was aptly handled by Prabal Sharma. Navneet Verma was instrumental in assisting in direction. Set was designed by Sudesh Thakur while property management was conducted by Bindia Chandan . Ravi Sharma of Dhanraj Studioz did the videography of the play and Kamal Kishen Ganjoo took to photography.
