Lucknow: The third Urmil Rang Utsav started at Sant Gadgeji Maharaj Auditorium with the honouring of veteran actor Dr. Anil Rastogi, Vijay Vastav and other artists. The five-day long festival of Dr. Urmilkumar Thapliyal Foundation, focused on the Nautanki genre, began with the re-enactment of the Nautanki ‘Harishchandra Ki Ladai’, composed 40 years ago under the music, writing and direction of Dr. Thapliyal, led by Ritun Thapliyal Mishra. The festival was inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak.
This presentation, a mixture of Hathrasi and Kanpur Nautanki styles with Awadhi and Brij languages, puts a question mark on the contemporaneity of the ideals of the past. In this, an attempt was made to connect some parts of Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena’s ‘Ladai’ with Master Haria’s life in a natural and meaningful way.
By promising Devi to take the risk of speaking the truth not only during the performance of Raja Harishchandra but also in life, Master Haria has valued not only the mythological ideals but also the value of ‘truth’. The director’s effort was to ensure that the culture of Nautanki does not change and modern stagecraft is not mixed in it.
The director believes that the elite audience of the city is a direct obstacle to the ‘crudeness’ which is considered authenticity in folk plays these days. Along with ‘Satya Harishchandra’ alias ‘Gulshan Ka Naag’ written by Nautanki pioneer Natharam Sharma Gaur and Ustad Inder Man, some parts of the works of Dhumil and Dushyant Kumar are also included in it.
It has been shown in the play that if ‘Hariya’, who played the role of King Harishchandra who attained the highest position by speaking the truth, speaks the truth today, then he will be forced to face dangers from his society, family and existence.
While trying to bring Thapliyal’s design to life, Ritun took the help of Ashwini Mita Pant in the presentation, especially in the singing aspect. The drama duo Kabir Pandey and Gautam Roy were in the Nautanki while the acting group included Anushree Jaisawl, Omkar, Vimlesh, Prakhar, Ayush, Suraj, Sikandar and Rajveer.
Pawan Kumar Jaiswal in the lead role of Master Haria and Harish Chandra along with his wife and Taramati- Meeta Pant, contractor- Virendra Rastogi, Rohitashv and Rohit- Kanushree Jaisal, Devi and intellectual- Ritun, manager- Sagar Singh, scrap and ration clerk- Prakhar Dwivedi, journalist- Ayush Srivastava, peon- Omkar Pushkar, tribal two- Vimlesh Kumar, Indra and commissioner- Aryan Shukla, Vishwamitra- Abhijeet Kumar Singh, gardener and principal- Satyendra Mishra, leader- Rishabh Pandey, inspector- Durga Pratap Singh, editor- Sikandar Yadav, Vishnu- Prateek Kumar Tiwari, among others.
Artists honoured
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and Mukesh Bahadur Singh honoured senior actors Dr Anil Rastogi and Vijay Vaastav with Urmil Rang Samman. On this occasion, artists Rakesh Agnihotri, Devesh Agnihotri, Bhupendra Singh, Rajiv Prabhakar Awasthi, Shivaji Awara Virendra Rastogi, Ashwini Makhan, Shobhana Jagdish, Ritun, Manoj Joshi, Roop Raj Nagar, Tulika Gupta, Kavita Solanki, Vinita Solanki, Madhusudan and Ashok Banerjee who worked in this drama in 1984 were also honoured.
In the festival which started on the birthday of Dr Thapliyal, tribute was paid to theatre artist Piyush Pandey along with him. People were welcomed by Veena Thapliyal and Satyendra Mishra. On the second day of the festival on 17th July, artists of Dwarika Loknatya Kala Utthan Samiti Kaushambi will stage the drama ‘Kewat Ke Ram’ under the direction of Santosh Kumar.
