Curtains down with Prem Chand — Ek Collage

Curtains down with “Prem Chand — Ek Collage”
S.D. Sharma

Chandigarh, September 15
The weeklong national drama festival concluded with the staging of “Prem Chand — Ek Collage” at Tagore Theatre here today. The annual event, the sixth in the series, brought to city by the NCZCC and NZCC in collaboration with the Department of Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, Haryana, showed the emergence of a whole new trend in contemporary theatre.

“Prem Chand- Ek Collage” by Abhiyan, Delhi, today was about the legendary Munshi Prem Chand at the apex of his literary genius. A dexterous synthesis of the narrative sequences of all three stories heightened the impact of the portrayal of middle class life, full of tension and conflict.

The acclaimed thespian, Rajendra Nath, relying on his directorial elegance, juxtaposed the unethical means adopted by many to seek greener pastures with the avaricious lust of a Pandit posing as a quack.

The most captivating presentation “Bade Bhai” was a tale of two brothers . The elder is studious and mediocre. The younger one is carefree and brilliant. The eloquent stage movements and brilliant dialogue delivery by the younger brother (Ishwar) enthralled the audience.

The concluding story “Sadgati” depicted the subjugated of the poor struggling and perishing in their fight for survival. The actors played multiple roles with ease.

Ishwar, Smita Bharti, Danish hussain, Rashmi Vaidlingam, Mala Kumar, B.K. Bindu, Jagdish Kanojia, Kavesar Jamaland and Vinod formed the cast.

Chief guest Saroj Parshant honoured the artistes. Mrs Aditi Dua, wife of Mr H.K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune Group of Newspapers, was the guest of honour.