WO LAHORE was the second presentation at the recently held festival 'Rang' in Mumbai. This play by the Delhi-based director Atul Satya Koushik was staged on September 22, 2013 at the Mysore Association with support from Nadira Zaheer Babbar's theatre group Ekjute.
The pre- independence era in India has been widely written about and has also been captured on stage and in film. Atul Satya Koushik tries to do the same with his play WO LAHORE. This play is about a Hindu family staying in Lahore and the internal conflict they face while the struggle for freedom is on. The protagonist of the play Jamuna is a mother who tries to keep her family intact amidst all odds. Shakti Singh essaying the role of Jamuna was worth a watch. She has understood the nuances of her character very well and that reflects in her performance.
The director has tried his best to retain the flavour of Lahore and that comes across when actors fluently deliver their lines in Punjabi. Just like their earlier production ARJUN KA BETA, this play is once again, quite amateurish. For starters, the set is unfurnished and fails to give the desired look. Also, there must be over fifteen scenes which could have been easily cut down to 3-4 scenes with smooth transitions. A very annoying thing about this production was the casual behaviour of the absent-minded actors. They kept forgetting their props on stage and would randomly clear it off in the following scenes. One could easily see the backstage commotion from the auditorium which is really distracting during the performance.
Apart from these technicalities, the play is good in parts. The director has tried to explore the grey sides of some characters. Zain Anwar (Deena), who plays the elder brother, has carried the shades of grey very well in his character. On the one hand he has immense love and affection towards his mother and younger sister but on the other hand his hatred towards Biju, his handicapped brother might disgust you. Isha Uppal is very natural and endearing as Veerawali. The relationship she shares with her brother Biju (Tarun Dang) is pure and sweet. Suraj (Akhilesh Arora), one of the siblings is a revolutionary and wishes to see his nation free from the rule of the British. He played his part well but it was quite weird to see him addressing his dialogues to the audience and not to his fellow co actors. It is very important to build a relationship with the characters on stage to convince the audience that you are part of the play. This happened not only with him but also with other actors in the play who constantly looked at the audience while saying their lines.
The hovering idea of the Partition in the backdrop did not come across well. Some scenes in the play don't make any sense. There is a scene where Huma (Ankita Juneja) is singing for the Nawabs in a kotha. The whole scene was very low on energy and didn't communicate much to the audience.
The live singing and music were some of the interesting bits in the play but overall it was disappointing.
*Astha Arora acts in Yatri's productions. She has a graduate degree in Mass Media and is now pursuing her Masters in Journalism.
