Jammu, Sept 29: Balwant Thakur’s popular Dogri play ‘GATT’ staged here on Sunday at Natrang Studio Theatre, Jammu under Natrang’s weekly theatre series ‘Sunday Theatre’. Based on Krishna Chander’s famous Urdu classic short story ‘Khadda’ the play is a hard hitting satire on the decay of human values.
The play “Gatt” shows that one and all tend to shirk their own responsibilities and work and pass it on to others. Instead they indulge in high sloganism, claiming to be the redeemers of the suffering masses. This is symbolized by a person falling into a ditch whose pleas to help him come out unanswered by one and all. Different people pass by him like surveyors, young men, religious, leaders, cops, Political leader in power and a foreigner. The person in distress is given different excuses and pleas for their inability in extending help to him. The unemployed youth are unable to find time out of their fixed schedule of hunting for girls. The ‘Sadhu’ showers blessings and prays for his peace in as and where condition.
The police cop lodges an FIR and asks him to report to the police station knowingly that he will never be able to come out of the ditch on his own. The foreigner lady enquires about his choice between India and Pakistan, which side he would like to take? The situation becomes more dramatic when a minister after a complaint from the public about the worsening of the road condition, makes a round of the area. The workers of the public works department instead of taking out the man from the ditch put wooden planks over the ditch and create a stage for minister’s public speech. Here the minister lists his development revolution and lashes at his opponents for cursing their government for political gains. The public meeting is over, the wooden planks are removed but no one pays any heed to the fallen-man in the ditch.
The slogans of the upliftment of the poor fades away with the flowing dusty wind. Finally, a man from the audience appears and appeals everyone to render a helping hand to this common man who is still in the ditch despite having celebrated sixty-four years of India’s Independence. The play reflects the plight of the poor masses who continue to suffer for want of help from those at the helm of affairs.
Natrang actors who acted in the play included Neeraj Kant as Neta, Gopi Sharma as Aadmi, Mohd. Yaseen as Karamchari 1, Brijesh Avtaar Sharma as Karamchari 2, Kananpreet Kaur as Foreigner, Sanket Bhagat as Aashiq-1, Kushal Bhat as Aashiq-2, Aadesh Dhar as Sadhu and Vishal Sharma as Police cop. The lights of the play were executed by Neeraj Kant whereas the presentations were done by Palshin Dutta.
