Bhubaneswar: The 26th batch students of Satabdira Kalakar School of Acting staged ‘Charandas Chor’ at Biju Natya Kendra, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar on September 12.
Originally rooted in Rajasthan’s folk traditions, written by Rajasthani writter Vijaydan Detha, adapted into play by noted theatre personality Habib Tanvir and Odia adaption by Bhaswati Basu, the play revolves around the eponymous character Charandas-a thief.
The play opens into a village where the villagers are seen chasing after Charandas, who is known for his unique modus operandi, whereby being able to fool police and remains elusive.
Though he is a thief, he is very kind at heart. Once he robbed a woman of her gold ornaments and returned them to her the next moment after seeing her weeping.
One day, in order to avoid being caught by havildar who is behind him, he enters into the ashram of a guruji and expresses his desire to be his disciple.
In jest he takes four vows before guruji that he will never eat from golden plate, never ride a caparisoned elephant in a procession, never marry a queen and never become a king.
The guruji agrees to accept him as his disciple but on the condition that he will never tell a lie. Charandas also accepts it, even as it is in contrast to his character.
Soon he becomes famous and the beautiful and unmarried queen of his state becomes eager to meet such a honest thief. Honouring the queen’s invitation, Charandas goes to the palace. There he is offered food on a golden plate. At first sight, the queen falls in love with him and wishes to marry him and to see him to be the king of the state.
The offers put Charandas in a quandary, reminding him of his vows he had done before guruji.
The very next moment, he makes himself strong enough to refuse the offers. For turning down queen’s words, the royal court awards him capital punishment.
While Birupaksha Behera was excellent in the role of Charandas, all the other artistes did their best to do justice to their characters, giving no scope to viewers to point them out as they are new to theatre world.
Darpanarayan Sethi’s direction and light design need special mention. It is no exaggeration to say that Pratap Rout’s music plays a character in the play.
Overall, the play was enjoyable, having a message for the present generation not to leave the path of truthfulness and dignity for all the tea in China.
Earlier a meeting was held wherein the guests distributed certificates to the passed out students. Secretary of Satabdira Kalakar Dhira Mallick conducted the meeting.
Photo courtesy: Satabdira Kalakar
By kalasanskruti
