This
week, I was invited to watch the play Yugpurush (in Hindi) at Nehru Centre.
Until now (forgive my ignorance) I was not aware that our great leader Mahatama
Gandhi also had mentor who played a pivotical role in shaping up his strong
character of peace through non-violence.
This
is the best play I have watched in a long time. I was very impressed by the
dialogue delivery, the expressions (that were so realistic) and the way the
play was handled. It transported me to another century where Mahatma tells the story of his mentor, Shripad Rajchandra, a poet, philosopher, spiritual guru and one of
the Mahatama’s closest friend, and how he was responsible for shaping up his
personality and his belief in non-violence and his peaceful solution to grave
problems.
The
props kept changing with great efficiency, relating the story during different times and I sat mesmerised as I watched the scene and the situation move from one location to
another. At one point, you are in his humble home, where he is sitting by his
loom weaving cloth, at another moment he is in Bombay, as a young Lawyer
looking for a job, where he meets his mentor, At another instant he is at the ship
yard with tourist on route to his trip to Africa and at another instant, he is
in Jail with his freedom fighters behind the bars. The play scores the most in
creating realistic and visually stunning scenarios throughout its duration.The
story moves from present to past to present again and the inert positions of
the actors transports you to that era.
At
one scene, Mahatma is caught up between two religions, Muslim and Christianity
and he is in dilema as to which religion should he follow, Muslim or
Christian or should he continue to uphold his own values as a Hindu. He is advised to look within him
to find answers.
After
Gandhi moved to South Africa, the duo corresponded through thousand of letters.
It is through this correspondence that Mahatma understands the value of
non-violence, the fearlessness and his tranforming character and consciousness.
Directed
by Rajesh Joshi and written by Uttam Gada, the play features Parthsarthi
Vaidya, Pulkit Solanki and Babul Bhavsar in important roles. The credit goes to
the director for handling difficult scenes and to the lighting and the props
used as well.
It
is worth a watch. There is no moment of boredom. I would love to watch it again
and again.
