Journalism of Courage
With more than 250 shows to its credit,Hindi play Chanakya will be staged in Pune.
When theatre and film actor Manoj Joshi was in Class IX,a short lecture given by his History teacher on the historical figure Chanakya,left an impression on him. As he grew up,his interest in Chanakya known as a great strategist,scholar and statesman also grew exponentially. Finally in 1987,Joshi asked his college friend Mihir Bhuta to write a Gujarati play on Chanakya. In 1990,the play was staged for the first time and was followed by several shows across Gujarat.
Joshi says the countrys deteriorating political scene inspired him to go back to Chanakya and revive the Hindi play. I wanted the message to reach as many people as is possible and Hindi as a language,has mass appeal, he says. Joshi describes Chanakya as a contemporary play with a timeless relevance. The play deals with the time when politics was pure,selfless and pro-society. The audience is compelled to think that the time has come for another Chanakya to rise in the country, says Joshi,who not only plays the protagonist but is also donning the directors hat.
Chanakya,says Joshi,was a scholar of practically all the traditional disciplines of knowledge. His ideologies on politics and economics may be more than 2,000 years old but are very much relevant in todays world.
He unified the nation and brought prosperity to India single-handedly. The success of his revolution most likely lasted the longest of all Indian revolutions. This play is an attempt to read those glorious pages from the past. Our endeavour is to present an opportunity for introspection towards the society and the leaders of the society, says Joshi.
Other characters in the play are essayed by Ashok Banthiya,Bhuvanesh Shetty,Sanjay Bhatia,Geetika,Rajan Joshi,Dinesh Kanade,Charu Joshi,Sunil Shinde,Nilesh Trivedi and Dharmaj Joshi.
Incidentally,Joshi had also played the character of Mantri Shriyak in the popular television drama Chanakya,written and directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi. The series was telecast on Doordarshan between 1991-92.
Talking about his film career,the actor who has played character roles in films such as Sarfarosh,Hungama,Hulchul,Devdas,Vivah,Khatta Meetha,Ready and several others,says films happened naturally to him like they do in the case of other theatre actors. However,he adds that his real passion since childhood has been the stage itself. Currently,he is working on Policegiri and a film by Anurag Kashyap.
Chanakya will be staged on March 31 at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha at 12.30 pm and at Ramkrushna More Prekshagruha,Chinchwad at 9.30 pm
