The Nabhya theatre group recently staged two new plays adapted from the short stories of the esteemed Indo-Pakistani writer, Saadat Hassan Manto at the Akshara theatre in the national Capital. Both the plays were directed by Sumeet Kumar.
Sadak ke Kinare is the story of a woman whose illusions about love are shattered when her partner leaves her on finding out that she is pregnant. Heartbroken, she remembers the good times with her partner and the devastating moments in which he abandoned her. Though she is pregnant, she doesn’t want the child as it is a reminder of her lost love. Eventually, she falls in love with her unborn child and ends up giving birth. This is the story of a fearless woman who takes the road less travelled and is ready to fight the world for her child. The play highlights the issue of female infanticide, a practice still prevalent in many parts of the world and explores the insecurities and fears of women who choose to be single parents and live in a society that condemns single mothers. Hinisha Chauhan portrayed the lead character while Elvis Chaturvedi and Pankaj Singh supported her. Pankaj’s character reflects the society’s distaste for girl child. The trio represented their roles quite aptly.
The second play Darpok depicted the dilemmas faced by a twenty seven year old boy Javed, who plans a trip to a brothel. Javed is a virgin. On entering the brothel, he is hit by a wave of paranoia as he imagines the street lights staring back at him. The lights engulf his vision and he starts talking to himself out of fear. This whole story is narrated from the perspective of an older Javed. Manish Tiwari played the character of older Javed, while his younger counterpart was portrayed by Sahil Malhotra. Elvis Chaturvedi represented Javed’s friend Ahmed. The play started with a Punjabi song by Gurnavdeep Singh. With Vishal Sharma being the man responsible for lights and Sumeet Kumar for music the audience appreciated the performance and the song a lot. Flute, thumri and classical music were used for the background score.