A Hindi play Neelkanth Nirala took the audience on a small journey into the life of renowned poet Nirala and come across his struggles, writings and ups and downs. Directed by Sanjay Upadhyay, the play was splendidly performed by the students of Madhya Pradesh School of Drama (MPSD) on Wednesday at Anarang Hall, Bharat Bhavan.
Neelkanth Nirala celebrates the life of eminent Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, who is revered as one of the stalwarts of Hindi literature. This play follows Nirala’s creative journey as he battled against stifling social and political values, personal tragedies and the overarching dominance of the English language, to become one of the most widely appreciated voices in Hindi literary arena.
Sanjay Upadhyay has very intelligently divided the play into six different segments where six characters as Nirala come before the audience and tell their story respectively. From Nirala’s personal struggles to his fame as a great Hindi poet and writer, each of his life phases was covered in the play.
The play begins with a narration on Nirala and then moving on showcasing his struggles in various fields. The whole play is a narration embedded with fine acting and wondrous expressions. All the six artistes managed to maintain the interest of the audience till the last as they portrayed each part of Nirala’s life before them.
While talking about the play, director, Sanjay Upadhyay said, “Well, we had staged this play earlier in 2009 at Prithvi Theatres and then, played it on Madhya Pradesh Rangotsava 2015. Here, we did various changes in the play and divided into six segments to make it more effective and enjoyable as well.” The audience was mesmerised with the performances and the matured acting skills of the artistes received much appreciation.