Bhubaneswar: A spellbinding Hindi two hander ‘Shikasta’ by Nipa Rangmandali was staged on the fourth evening of National Theatre festival, organized by Bidyakanak Srujananusthana, at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
With less noise, the play delivers a loud and clear message that unchecked ego and arrogance can bring even the strongest relationships crashing down like a house of cards.
Written Bharatendu Kashyap and directed by celebrated theatre personality Suryamohan Kulshreshtha and Kashyap, the play delves into the lives of an elderly man Chander and elderly woman Sonia, both are struggling with fractured family relationships, financial hardships, old age problems, loneliness, and most importantly, their own ego, tendencies and cognitive behavioral patterns.
The play opens inside a room of an old age home where 70-year-old Chander (Suryamohan Kulshreshtha), is seen passing time playing cards alone. Soon, a 65-70-year-old female inmate Sonia (Mridula Bharadwaj) walks into his room.
As they spend time together, they realise they are sailing in the same boat-both abandoned by their families, emotionally adrift, and struggling to come to terms with isolation.
Just when life seems to throw them a lifeline and they begin to believe that companionship might fill the void in their lives, everything go haywire.
An expert card player, Chander teaches Sonia how to play ‘Gin’, a type of card game. But to his utter surprise, novice Sonia defeats Chander in the very first round and then in the successive rounds as well.
What begins as harmless fun soon opens a Pandora’s box. Chander’s bruised ego gets the better of him, while Sonia basks in the glory of her unexpected triumph. In the blink of an eye, the emotional bridge they had carefully built begins to crumble.
Kulshreshtha and Bharadwaj delivered performances straight from the heart. For the entire one hour and forty-five minutes, this reviewer and the audience too, remained fixed on them as the duo portraying their characters with effortless ease without resorting to melodrama or theatrical excess.
Side by side, the play also explored the growing tendency among younger generations to settle in foreign lands, leaving behind their parents and mushrooming of old age homes in modern society.
Keeping things simple, the director duo opted for a minimalist set, which worked in the play’s favour. The set was designed by Sumit Srivastav.
A wheelchair suspended from above worked as a metaphor for the uncertain future awaiting today’s younger generation when age eventually catches up with them.
The light design by Debashish Mishra and Nitish Bhardwaj and music by Sumeet Srivastav contributed in elevating the production several notches higher.
Established by Suryamohan Kulshreshtha and Mridula Bharadwaj in 1991, Nipa Rangmandali has carved a niche for itself in and outside India. Through participating in international theatre festivals organized in Norway, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, America, and Pakistan, Nipa has played a significant role in establishing Hindi theatre beyond borders.
Honored with the Rashtriya Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha is the former director of Bhartendu Natya Akademi, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and was trained in its first batch (1976-77). While the prominent plays he has directed are ‘Ramleela’, ‘Dulari Bai’, ‘King Oedipus’, ‘Caucasian Chalk Circle’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Muntazir’, ‘Vasansi Jeernani’, ‘Aadhe Adhure’, ‘Hullhuliya’, ‘Bury the Dead’, ‘Balcon Women’, ‘Bhagavadajjukiyam’, ‘Lower Depths’ Indian Adaptation ‘Sakkhu Ram Ka Ahata’, ‘Shikasta’ etc., he has left a deep and remarkable impression as an actor in plays like ‘Chandrama Singh Urf Chamku’, ‘Barefoot in Athens’, ‘Kooajad’, and ‘Shikasta’, and in films like ‘V Daas Dev’, ‘Monsoon Shootout’, ‘Bypass’, ‘Bhagavad Gita’, and ‘Sirf Ek Band Kaafi Hai’, etc. He has also written, translated, and adapted several plays.
Over the years, he has established his own language and style in the theatre world.
Likewise, Bhartendu Kashyap, also trained at Bhartendu Natya Akademi, has earned accolades over the past two decades for his work as a director, writer, and designer, with several acclaimed productions to his credit.
The prominent plays directed by him include ‘Tiriya Charittar’, ‘Bahut Baad Sawal’, ‘Aurat’, ‘Saat Paalon Wali Naav’, ‘Waiting for Godot’, ‘Sapan Priya’, ‘Ek Bata Doobees’, ‘Rizwan’, ‘Haan Main Savitri Bai Phule’, ‘Camp’, ‘Chambal Ek Nadi Ka Naam’, ‘Sara Ka Sara Asman’, ‘He who says yes, He who says no’, ‘Har Kshan Vida Hai’, etc.
Earlier in the evening, distinguished personalities such as Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi secretary Dr Chandrasekhar Hota, executive director NALCO Ashustosh Rath, theatre personality Prof Samar Mudali, Odisha Natya Sangha secretary Sudhanshu Mohan Dwibedy, Rotarian Yajnasish Mohapatra inaugurated the programme by lighting the auspicious lamp.
On this occasion, theatre actor and director Gobinda Chandra Mohapatra and The Dharitri reporter Soumya Ranjan Rout were felicitated with ‘Bidyakanak Samman’.
