Early Times Reporter
Jammu | July 28
‘Bawa Jitto’ Natrang’s legendary play which has provided a unique identity to the Jammu theatre was the attraction of the ongoing Natrang’s Silver Jubilee Theatre Festival. The play is written by Prof. Ram Nath Shastri and is directed by Balwant Thakur. Sham Singh, Sr. Divisional Manager, LIC was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
The historical fortnight long Theatre Festival by one group is being celebrated by Natrang in collaboration with J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages.
Set in the rural backdrop, this 15th century Folk tale 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 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.
Arvind Anand as ‘Bawa-Jitto’ mesmerized the audience by the power of his expressive acting. Juhi Singh as ‘Bua Gauri’, Suresh Kumar as ‘Mehta Vir Singh’, Mukulini Sethi as ‘Jojan’, Anil Tikoo as ‘Malli’, Sanjeev Gupta as ‘Isso’, Neeraj Kant as ‘Rullo’ and Kamaljeet as ‘Jeuni’ were also successful in exhibiting a balanced performance. Others who put life into the play by their lively acting include Pankaj Sharma, Vijay Bhat, Subhash Jamwal, Dimple Sharma, Deepak Virdhi, Prashant Sagar, Ankush Lakhnotra, Mohit Sharma, Rakesh Gupta, Rohit Verma, Hemant Bhola, Pankush Verma, Rahul Singh, Salil Mahajan, Mayank Bakshi, Sahil Arora, Praveen Kumar, Rajesh Sanaak, Mohd. Yaseen, Shivali Abrol and Sajra Qadir. Two folk artists Girdhari Lal and Harbans Lal as ‘Jogi-I and Jogi-II’ gave a traditional flavour to the performance. Lights were operated by Suraj Ganjoo and Jai Ram. Costumes were designed by Deepika B. Thakur. Public relations were looked after by Sumeet Sharma. Sound by Lokesh Chander & Hall Management was looked after by Gaurav Jamwal, Vijay Koul, Gaurav Triyal, Rahul Chanda & Sat Salarbi.
Tomorrow the Sunday, ‘Kanjoos’ a Hindustani adaptation of Moliere’s Famous comedy ‘The Miser’ directed by Harish Khanna and Adil Hussain will be staged at 6 P.M. at Abhinav Theatre. The show is being brought to Jammu audience by Rex (U&A) Remedies Pvt. Ltd.
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