The sagacious blend of Sadat Hassan Manto’s story telling art and the directional skills of Padmshree Neelam Mansingh Chaudhary was witnessed by the art lovers of the city in the Hindi play, ‘The licence’.
The play was staged at Antarang hall Bharat Bhawan here on Wednesday by the artists of The Company, Chandigarh under the guest performance organised by Rangmandal wing.The play based on a text written by Saadat Hasan Manto with certain references from German playwright Berthold Brecht’s Berlin Stories, ‘The Job’. Both these stories talk about the implication on people in an economy that is industrializing at a fast pace.
In The Job, an unemployed man finds place as a watchman in a factory, and this is united into another story by Manto, titled licence, a story of self employed Tongawala.The sudden death of the provider in both the stories drives the family to the brink of starvation. In both stories, the women adopt a plan that becomes as desperate as the situation. To slip into the male identity and take over the husband’s job, becomes the choice available to the protagonist as survival tool. Wearing her husband’s clothes clumsily, she practices his lifestyle.
The play tells the story of protagonist Niti, belongs to rich family, and a tongawala, Suraj, with whom she elopes and gets married. Suraj is arrested on complain of Niti’s parents and dies in jail due to torture of police. After the death, Niti gives tonga to Suraj’s friend on hire. Suraj’s friend purposes Niti for marriage but she rejects. For not accepting the rejection he tries to molest Niti.
The betrayal of the friend, a hostile world, and poverty makes Niti decide that she will now operate the tonga herself.Two female artists of The Company, theatre group, Chandigarh including Ramanjeet Kaur as Niti and Gick Grewal as Suraj were in lead roles wonderfully, mesmerized the audiences. Apart from acting and script, music and light also added charm in play.
Neelam Mansingh Chaudhary said “It is tenth show of this play but first time staged in Bharat Bhawan. Both these stories could be considered as feminist stories and both have androgynous undertone. The story is framed against short vignettes that are written by Manto called ‘sketches’ that draw upon the political history against which the story has been contextualised”.