The enchantment and charm of Sadat Hassan Manto’s stories was spread at Antarang Hall, Bharat Bhavan.
The theatre buffs were mesmerised watching the short story by Manto, Toba Tek Singh, being staged on Tuesday at Antarang Hall, Bharat Bhavan. Directed by Suraj Sharma, the play was wondrously performed by the artistes of Kalandhika Nritya Natya Samiti, Bhopal.
The artistes beautifully performed this ‘powerful satire’ on the relationship between India and Pakistan. The play Toba Tek Singh is one of the famous short stories by Sadat Hassan Manto. like his other stories, Manto in this story too described the grief of the partition.
It is a painful saga of a character, who is admitted in a mental asylum of lahore.
The story takes place before 1947 at the time of partition. At the mental asylum of lahore, all the patients were shifted to their respective States. As the patients were informed about it they refused to go, some of them refused to get down from the trucks and some of them ran away and scattered everywhere.
There standing was Bhishan Singh. When his turn came, he asked the officials ‘Where is Toba Tek Singh’ the official answered ‘It is in Pakistan’. Bhishan Singh then ran towards his companions. The Pakistani soldiers tried to get hold of him but he stood in between the wires of India and Pakistan’s border.
This patient remembers a place called Toba Tek Singh. He remembers it is in Pakistan so he wanted to stay there. He stood there all
night and suddenly, he gave a loud scream.
As the officials ran towards him, they found him dead. At the end of the story, Singh dies in no man’s land.
The touching concept, the matured acting skills and the fine presentation was all about the play that left the theatre buffs totally enthralled.