A new production of the country’s leading theatre troupe Nagorik Natya Sampradaya titled “Nam Gotrohin Mantor Meyera” staged at the National Theatre Hall of BSA on June 26 in the capital.
Based on Saadat Hasan Manto’s novellas “Kaali Shalwar,” “License” and “Hatak,” the play is directed by famed Indian theatre activist and director Usha Ganguly.
The 44th production of the troupe saw a house-full audience and though the staging started late, the patience of the audience was well rewarded.
The play opened with six narrators on stage who stated their reason for staging Manto’s stories and introduced the characters to the audience.
“Kaali Salwar,” the first story portrays Sultana, a sex worker who recently migrated from Ambala to Delhi with her escort Khodabox. Because of war and poverty, Sultana and Khodabox suffer and she presses Khodhabox to return to their previous living arrangement. But he refuses her as he was busy spending time with fakirs in pursuit of a better future. In a while, Sultana meets a male sex worker Shankar and they become well acquainted. He promises to get her a black salwar which she saw on her friend Anwari. On the day of Moharram, Sultana gets the salwar but in return she sees that Anwari is wearing her earrings. Sultana realises that Anwari had been exploited by Shankar and the vulnerable situation of women in a male dominated society becomes clear to her. Manto was sued for writing this novella which represents the suppression of women.
The second story was on Manto’s “License,” which showed how a woman cannot get a license to drive a horse carriage but can easily get to sell her body and dignity on the backdrop of a patriarchal society.
In the third story “Hatak,” Sugondhi is approached by a police constable who promises to meet all her expectations and demands, in return he wants her to leave her profession as a sex worker and lead an honourable life. The impressed Sugondhi starts living in a fantasy. The menageries of sorrow in her life seems to lift as she begins to believe that someone truly cares for her.
About the play, Sara Zaker said: “We planned on co-producing a play for quite a long time. Usha Ganguly and I both feel that Manto’s stories are relevant to both our societies and that is why we agreed to work on them.”
The drama is dedicated to AK Azad, an associate of Nagorik Natya Sampradaya who died recently. He did the background music which adapted to the mood and milleou of the stories quite remarkably.
Saka Zaker was prominent on stage and gave a brilliant performance as is expected from an actor of her calibre. As a debutant on stage, Shriya Sharbojoya made quite an impression with her superb acting and smooth dialogue delivery. Aupee Karim played the character of Sultana. Pantho Shahriar, Mostafiz Shahin, Rajib Dey, Naomi Kamrun Bidhu and others formed the rest of the cast.