The second edition of the State-level Natya Utsav at Barpali in Bargarh district kicked off on Sunday showcasing three plays.
“lal Paen” opened the inaugural evening. The play tells the plight of the Hirakud dam displaced people. On the backdrop of struggle against the erection of the dam, how Arun-Ahalya's love is drowned is told in the story. Unusually lengthy though the production was, the acting of rightly chosen artists moved the audience. The play, stated to be the 98th show, was presented by Mirror Theatre of Belpahad and directed by Subash Chandra Pradhan.
The second play was “Ganthir Suna Paisa Muna.” The story of the play revolves around a rickshaw puller's sufferings. Chanabutu, the rickshaw puller, has a family comprising his wife Malati and three children. Chanabutu being a diabetic patient lost one of his legs. Malati fails to meet her husband’s treatment, but her three children prove to be her last straw. Finding no other way, she sells her new born child off.
The play undoubtedly draws the attention to the reasons of child selling like shameful practice in Odisha. At the same time, the story does not lay any emphasis on how Chanabutu’s preference of having three children has resulted in a catastrophic ending. The play was directed by Raj Kumar Sahoo. Sachetan Hema, a theatre group of Bargarh, staged the play. This theatre group founded in 2010 has been staging plays only on awareness-oriented subjects.
The last play of the inaugural evening was “Baba Badha”. A comic play on a fake Baba went well with the audience. The play written and directed by Sumanta Bhoi opens on the court of Yamraj, the god of death, where the fake Baba’s hearing is going on. Then the Baba’s misdoings are shown on a flashback. Binapani Sahitya Kala Sansad staged the play.
The audience enjoyed all the plays presented in Sambalpuri dialect. Earlier, a formal meeting was held where it was told that this year the festival is totally dedicated to the departed souls of 27 artists of Bharati Gananatya of Barpali who were travelling in an ill-fated bus that met an accident at Goilo Ghati last year.
Barpali Natya Utsav Committee president Prabhu Mahanty said, “Here people love theatre. In fact, their love for the theatre has given birth to the festival. But we are not able to satisfy them in true sense of theatre because, we don’t have an auditorium. Gangadhara Rangamancha, the only auditorium in Barpali, is in dilapidated condition. We have no option but staging our plays in an open ground under a tent.”
He lamented that they are not getting any help from the State Government, nor from any private company.