Counting on DRAMATICS

Actor-director Manoj Joshis Chanakya wins the first Bhilwara Natya Puraskar award.

Actor-director Manoj Joshis Chanakya wins the first Bhilwara Natya Puraskar award.

Mumbai-based director Manoj Joshis play Chanakya,with its pointers on how to become a good administrator,won the first Bhilwara Natya Puraskar award recently. Instituted by the LNJ Bhilwara Group,the first prize carries a cash award of Rs 2 lakh. The runner-up,who took home a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh,was Main Rahi Masoom,a play on Urdu poet Rahi Masoom Raza by Hyderabad-based Rangdhara. The plays compelled us to think, says Rajendra Bagrodia,a jury member. While Chanakya insisted that a king forget his own happiness for the sake of the people he governs,Main Rahi8230; spoke about being Indian rather than defining ourselves by region or religion, he added.

Main Rahi Masoom,Ambedkar aur Gandhi and Chanakya were the three short-listed plays that were staged at Delhis Shri Ram Centre during the three-day-long event that started on November 6. But the festival was also marked by drama off-stage. The third play in contention for the award,Arvind Gaurs Ambedkar aur Gandhi,ended in a heated argument between the director and jury member Professor Bharat Gupt. The play revolves around debates and differences between BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi and has frequently divided audiences ever since it premiered in 2009. After the staging of the play,when the director began discussions with the audience,Gupt made his objections known as a member of the audience. The play says that Gandhi believed in a rigid caste system where a son must follow the profession of his father. Where is the evidence to such a statement? questioned Gupt. While Gaur claimed that he could substantiate the tenor of his play through books and letters by Gandhi,things took an ugly turn when Gupt took to the stage and reprimanded Gaur for misusing the platform. We have provided you with a stage to perform a play,not to conduct a political propaganda, he said.

Amid slogans by several members of the cast and audience,Gaur announced that he was opting out of the competition. The jury,however,maintains that Gaurs announcement had not been communicated to them officially. The play had already been judged while it was being staged, iterates Bagrodia. That wasnt the only issue that marred the inaugural edition of the competition. Theatreperson Mohan Maharishi,who was part of the jury,was missing in action as he is travelling. But he had already watched the video recordings of the plays and attended meetings. So,even if he was absent during the staging of the plays,he remains a jury member, defended Bagrodia.