Spend an evening dedicated to one of the the greatest novelists of all time Munshi Premchand at Ek Shaam Premchand Ke Naam. Jagriti will come alive with adaptations of Premchand’s short stories like Namak ka daroga, Shatranj ke khiladi, Poos ki raat and others.
What Shakespeare is to English literature, Munshi Premchand is to Hindi, no wonder then, Mathura Kalauny of Kalayan Theatre decided to stage this tribute to the greatest novelist on his 136th birth anniversary.
Playwright director Mathura Kalauny is taking his belief of equal opportunities for all and social evolution a step further with this brilliant 90-minutes stage adaptation of his short stories.
Mathura has written 18 full length plays and 20 short plays and directed about 30 plays and also authored and published 150 short stories, four novelettes, and one short story collection.
“Munshi Premchand believed in human goodness. He practiced what he preached. He never flinched from showing the mirror to the society he lived in. He did not segregate the society on religious lines, and was perfectly at ease with all religious communities in his stories. His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. The play has two sections on Premchand, his life, his writings and what he stood for, in modern day presentations using projector and audio-visuals. In other three sections, three of his short stories are adapted into plays,” shares Mathura who has been honoured in International Hindi Sammelan at Cambodia, Assam and Beijing where he was invited to read his plays.
“Literature is the trustworthy knowledge that lights our paths when we lose our way and go astray; and literateurs are the torch-bearers of the truth,” believed Munshi Premchand, who was the first Hindi author to introduce social realism in his writings.
If you’re looking for an experience with Premchand and want to understand his relevance today, then this one’s for you, promises the ace director. Artists Faria Fatma, Amit Suthar, Utkarsh Gaharwar, Saurabh Soni, Sandeep Patro, Aahana Banerjee, Prakil Singh, Amit Sen, Anindya Gupta, Manjunath Deuraj, Arun Kumar, Rhea Kalauny Ramachandran and others will be seen on the stage.
Faria Fatma who is acting in the play states, “I grew up reading stories of Premchand, but this play gave me an opportunity to know Premchand and his life. The best thing is to lead his life as an example.”
Another actor who will be seen on the stage is Srinivas Naidu. He adds, “I’m portraying a character about whom I have only read and imagined. Enacting Premchand’s work is not merely reciting but literally getting transported to history and I'm proud to be a part of it.”
The stories come alive
Kafan: A dark comedy and a heart-wrenching story where a woman dies during child birth. Her husband and father-in- law raise money for her Kafan, only to realise the futility of it. It deals with the survival instincts of the dirt poor.
Sadgati: Premchand deals with the social exploitation of the 'untouchables', their abject poverty and their dehumanisation by the upper class. A dark truth which keeps re-surfacing even in today's India.
Poos Ki Raat: A story of a poor farmer who struggles to ward off the bitter cold of winter nights, with only his dog for company.
Ek Shaam Premchand Ke Naam will be staged at Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield on July 30 at 8 pm and July 31, 3 pm and 6.30 pm.
