By Sanjeev Shekhar
To mark the golden jubilee celebration-2010 of the Ranchi University, the four-day drama festival based on the stories of legendary Hindi writer Munshi Premchand kick started on Tuesday at Maulana Azad Senate Hall on the University campus.
The drama festival rechristened as ‘Prem Utsav-2010’ evoked positive response from the students and teachers of the university alike. On the occasion of the 130th birth anniversary of Dhanpat Rai Srivastava – better known as Munshi Premchand–Mujeeb Khan is championing the foremost Urdu-Hindi writer's stories through a theatre festival. His theatre group Ideal Drama and Entertainment Academy (IDEA) would stage as many as 15 plays during the four-day festival.
Inaugurating the Utsav, the secretary of the HRD Mridula Sinha pointed out that the classic stories of Munshi Premchand are still relevant in the Indian context. “The presentation of the stories in the form of drama would help in awakening of youth and society. Such shows or act should be promoted in the interest of all,” she said.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University, A.A.Khan deliberated on the life and writings of Munsi Premchand. He said plays based on stories of Premchand would bring about change in values in the contemporary life of youth. “The stories of the great writer successfully outlined and depict the Indian values that will have an impact on the thought pattern of the society as well,” Khan said.
The foremost Urdu-Hindi writer, Mujeeb Khan said "we have meticulously selected these 15 stories of Premchand for the festival from the total collection of 283 stories keeping in mind of the scenario in Jharkhand. All the plays will minutely depict crisis from which Jharkhand is passing through and also the ray of hope that we have in our life," said Khan. He owns the group IDEA, based in Mumbai.
On the first day of the festival five plays were staged by the artists, which included prominently Qatil, Prem ka Uday and Satgati.
Qatil is a serious play that outlined the pain of a mother who loses her son during the British rule. The mother loses her only son when he struggles to fight the British. The play brings about the human pain for a lost relationship.
In Satgati, the necessary evil of the society based on caste and class divide is nicely depicted. It brings about the fact to the fore the obnoxious feeling of the upper caste towards the low caste person, who serves and is loyal to his master till the end. The person even sacrifices his life to remain obedient to his master.
