Dharmavatar' staged in the 3rd State-level Drama Festival in Berhampur

Photo: Lingaraj Panda 

 

Play of emotions: A scene from the play ‘Dharmavatar' is being enacted at the ongoing 3rd State-level Drama Festival in Berhampur on Saturday. —

BERHAMPUR: Young enthusiasts of amateur theatre in the city were wonder stuck when stalwarts of theatre movement in the State came together to enact ‘Dharmavatar' on stage on Saturday night as part of the State-level drama festival continuing in the city.

This play was enacted by ‘New Quest Repertory ', a troupe from Bhubaneswar. Main attraction of the play were its two main actors Choudhury Bikash Das and Kishor Khandual. Mr. Das is well known in Orissa for the mega serials directed by him. He has also delved into cine direction. Mr. Khandual is one of the major directors of professional ‘Opera' troupes in Orissa.

But love of stage had compelled both of these veterans to act under a young director Nilini Nihar Nayak, who also acted in the play.

Mr. Das said for every actor stage is the best place to learn. “I am always lured by the direct contact I get with the response of my audience which is not possible in electronic mediums,” he said. Mr. Das and Mr. Khandual also proved that docility was the mark of any great actor or director as they had not hesitated to work to the tunes of their young director. The play ‘Dharmavatar' has also experienced a long span of time since its publication about 25 years ago . It was written by playwright Bijay Mishra. It is a long play of over one hour 40 minutes duration with only five male actors on stage. The other actors on stage were from young generation like Bikash Kumar Pradhan and Niranjan Acharya. Yet even in this century the play and its adept presentation could bind the audience to their seats till the end.

The play took the audience to 1857 and the dichotomy in the minds of the son of a rebel sepoy who was not able to decide whether he should betray his motherland or his father. He was on his way to Delhi from Jhansi to hand over secret documents related to plans of sepoy mutiny to save his arrested father put on death row. On his way he comes across two eccentric retired persons who enact court scenes as entertainment.

He is forced to take part in this enactment. He as well as the audience were compelled to think about the relativity of every virtue and vice in this world through the taut metaphoric dialogues.

Source: The Hindu