The magic of Sadat Hassan Manto was beautifully spread by the theatre artists of the city. A play ‘Hazir Hoon’ was staged at Dushyant Kumar Memorial Museum of Manuscript on Friday.
The play was performed by the artists of Bhoomika theatre troupe and was brilliantly directed by Gopal Dubey.
Hazir Hoon was a collage of two plays by Manto ‘license’ and ‘Kitney Toba Tek Singh’.
The play license 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.
Next story Kitney Toba Tek Singh showcased the pain and grief of partition of India and Pakistan.
This short story is painful saga of character Toba Tek Singh who lives in lunatic asylum of lahore.
After partition Sikh and Hindu are directed to India. But Singh and other patients are not ready to go there. They believe lahore is their home.
On the way to India, the play ends with the death of Toba Tek Singh where he Singh dies no man’s land.
The play Hazir Hoon was all about the writing and magic of Sadat Hassan Manto. Keeping the impactful script as it is, few changes were done in the play to connect them with the contemporary society. Both the stories were staged brilliantly by the artists.