DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
JAMMU, Nov 15
The most celebrated globally acclaimed Dogri play ‘Bawa Jitto’ mesmerised thousands of the audiences consecutively for the 2nd day here at the main stage of Jhiri Mela. A presentation of NATRANG Jammu is written by Late Prof. Ram Nath Shastri and is innovatively devised, designed and creatively directed by Padamshree Balwant Thakur. Principal Secretary to Government, Education (School) and Culture UT of J&K was the Chief Guest on the occasion who appreciated the unparalleled efforts of Natrang Jammu and its Director Balwant Thakur aimed at the preservation and promotion of the age-old cultural wisdom and wealth of Jammu & Kashmir. Appreciating the performance of the play Suresh Kumar Gupta said that this iconic play has given a new cultural identity to this region at the National and the International level. He assured all required support to such endeavours which are destined to bring a new cultural renaissance. The Chief Guest was also felicitated by the Director Natrang and the Mela officer, Athar Amin Zargar.
This mind-blowing presentation of Natrang magically transported along the thousands of the devotees and the pilgrims to a six hundred year old saga of supreme sacrifice of a farmer who gave his life in the fight against injustice and exploitation by the landlords. The most noteworthy feature of the presentation was that it made the audience re-live a 15th century tale exactly at the same place where it happened over hundreds of years ago.
Giving details, Natrang Director Balwant Thakur said that if such events are made a permanent feature, they will not only revive cultural life of the area but will also become the ultimate global cultural destination. No where on this earth one can have the occasion to see something out of the world happening which transports people to a live happening of the 15th century. He expressed his heartiest gratitude to the District Administration, particularly the Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Mr. Sachin Kumar and Mr. Athar Amin Zargar, SDM Marh for supporting Natrang to make all this possible. Natrang has staged over two hundred shows of the play Bawa Jitto all-over India and as of now this play has become the longest living theatre production of the country which has again given a new cultural identity to this region. The story of Bawa Jitto portrays the age-old saga of exploitation of landless farmers by landlords. Due to the constant and persistent pressures of relatives, with a piece of land as bone of contention, Bawa Jitto, a hard working, farm less farmer is forced to leave his native village. Accompanied by his nine-year-old daughter, he takes shelter in the house of a friend in Shamachak, a nearby village.
The efforts of his friend Rullo result in a land grant from the landlord in Shamachak and one fourth of the produce is fixed as land revenue. The hard work put in by him, the sweat and toil of Jitto turns a barren land into prolific treasure. This makes avaricious landlord to back out on his word and ask for major share of the crop. Helpless Jitto, unable to endure injustice, kills himself. The agony becomes boundless when Gauri, his little daughter, immolates herself on her father’s pyre.
The most outstanding feature of the play was the performance by versatile actors on stage. The role of Bawa Jitto was played by Arvind Anand who kept everyone spellbound through his electrifying performance. Kananpreet Kaur and Meenakshi Bhagat as Jojan, Subash Jamwal as Mehta Beer Singh, Neeraj Kant as Raja, Sarpanch & Ghaghi and Anil Tickoo as Malli left the lasting impact on the audiences through their highly professional performances. They were supported by senior actors like Shivam Singh as Isso and Mohd Yaseen as Rullo with full perfection. Another noteworthy performance was by young Prial Gupta as Bua Gauri who received the praise of all. Others who gave vibrant performances included Sachin Saini, Aadesh Dhar, Vishal Sharma,Vansh Pandotra, Kushal Bhat, Sanket Bhagat, Mihir Gujral, Sunny Mujoo, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Arun Sharma, Arun Dev Verma, Kartik Kumar, Gopi Sharma, Simran Rajput, Mehak Chib, Mitali Sarmal, Vandana Thakur and Aryan Sharma. Sartaj Singh coordinated the show.
The lights were designed and executed by Suraj Ganjoo, Pankaj Sharma and Shivam Singh and sound was professionally audio graphed by Sumeet Sharma and executed by Tilak Raj and Anshul Mahajan.
