One of the hit plays of Habib Tanveer ‘Gaon Naam Sasural, Mor Naam Damad’ left the audience in the whirls of laughter as the play was staged here on Wednesday to mark the fourth day of ‘9th Complete Theatre Festival’. The play was presented at Shaheed Bhavan Auditorium. Written and Directed by noted theatre artist Habib Tanvir in early seventies and its first show was staged in 1973 at Raipur. In Habib Tanvir’s words, “This play was like a milestone in my theatre journey and this play also helped me to give a way to my next production Charandas Chor.”
Describing the colours of culture and tradition of Chhattisgarh, the play was staged by Naya Theatre Group, Bhopal. This play focuses on Chhattigarhi Naach Style, Chher - Chhera, Budhwa Vivah (getting married to an old man) and Dewar Nakal. Naach Style is finely defined in Tanvir’s this play, which means that a chorus is needed to narrate the story through songs and music.
Gaon Naam Sasural Mor Naam Damad is a folk tale and a light hearted comedy. This play is satire over the society and various phases of it. It also defines the perceptions of the society towards youngsters falling in love. The play begins with showing the harvest festival Chher-Chhera and the story introduces two young boys Jhanglu and Manglu. Jhanglu falls for Manti and proposes her for marriage.
Manti’s father has already accepted an old sarpanch as his son-in-law. Now Jhanglu wants to marry Manti. But girl’s father fixed her marriage with a rich old man of the village. Here Jhanglu appears as a fake dewar before the girl’s father and the boy uses some tricks and tantrums and run away with the girl. The play was enjoyable and the audience burst out laughing as the situational comedy was created on stage. With the traditional songs and music of Chhattisgarh the play became more interesting to watch. The audience was enthralled to watch the performance of the artists.