DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
JAMMU, June 26
Jammu and Kashmir Excise Department in collaboration with Natrang presented Balwant Thakur’s acclaimed Hindi play ‘JAAL’ under the direction of Neeraj Kant here today at Excise and Taxation Training Institute, Nagrota, Jammu. In a very effective manner this powerful play innovatively showcases how the Drug-menace is ruining the generations like a rapid fire, crippling the developing nations like India. The youth of the country, the largest energetic and most productive human resource of the country, sometimes unknowingly slip into the trap of dangerous drug menace.
The play was not based on one story-line but as an experiment Balwant Thakur has woven multiple stories in one theme focusing the spread of drug menace like a mesh, thus taking the toll of the strongest workforce of the country. In a sequence a young boy is shown struggling for a good company after his passing of the school and his entry in the college.Majority of his age group is shown indulged in drugs and he finds himself 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 are shown drowned in the menace of alcohol. All the miseries of the village like poverty, domestic violence, and ailments are attributed to the constant growth of consumption of alcohol in the village. In a sequence the daily routine of a villager is shown who consumes the whole of his daily earnings seeking alcohol. Being drunk completely he has lost his way home.
By the time a local escorts him to his place where in the middle of the night this 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 ill intentions towards his wife. This fight further messes up when a drunken man after losing senses damages his household belongings 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. Many precious lives are being charred in this fire of drug menace which is to be fought unitedly to bring them out of the mesh of drugs menace. Through this play Balwant Thakur has tried to make an appeal to save mankind from this dragon. The best way to save the youth from this menace of drugs is to make them aware of its severe consequences.
Actors who outshined in their respective performances and left an impact on their acting included Neeraj Kant, Aadesh Dhar, Palshin Dutta, Vishal Sharma, Chaitanya Shekhar, Sanket Bhagat, Kushal Bhat and Brijesh Avtar Sharma. The show was coordinated by Mohd. Yaseen
