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The anguish of a mother’s loss and the troubled times we live in, are brought out with chilling clarity in the Lalhouba amagi mama, a Manipuri adaptation of Mahasveta Devi’s novel, Hazaar Chaurasi ki Ma. Aryan Theatre, Imphal, presented the play, translated by S. Rajen, in the 26th All Manipur Drama Festival on December 19. The play draws a parallel between insurgency-related incidents in Manipur and Naxal-infected areas of West Bengal and Bihar. It portrays the death of a youth, Brati, during a fake encounter. Sujata, his mother, is called to the morgue to identify the body, where the police rebuke her for being a mother of an extremist. Sujata, however, takes it upon herself to trace the doings of her son and to prove whether her son died in an encounter or a factional fight. The message of the play is to cease fighting and chalk out a roadmap to end insurgency. While Sujata believes that the opinion of the people is needed to bring about a political solution to the revolutionary movement, her husband Debendra refuses to take the issue seriously. He is more preoccupied with the reception of his daughter’s marriage. Most people depicted in the play look upon Naxalites as misguided youths. Sujata rejects the idea. S. Sushila, who played the role of Sujata, put up a convincing performance. Actor A. Santosh seemed too young to take on the role of Brati. However, Y. Reena in the role of Nandini, Brati’s beloved, was excellent, making good use of narration, question and speech. The director made skilful use of lighting to separate time and space. Visual aids have been used in an innovative manner in the play. The All Manipur Drama Festival will continue till January next year at the Manipur Dramatic Union hall. Eight theatrical groups are taking part in the festival. |
Chilling clarity of emotions
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Sinlung
