SAN 2025
23.03.2025 (Thursday)
GROUP: Rangsaadhak Theatre Group, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh
DIRECTOR: Manoj Kumar Soni
LANGUAGE: Hindi
DURATION: _:_ mins
The Director
Manoj K. Soni born as Manish Soni on 05 August 1975 in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, is an actively working as theatre actor and director since 2013. He is one of the Casual Announcer in All India Radio since 2009 and is the founder member of Ghazal Lovers’ Musical and Social Welfare Group, Sagar. He started his career as a theatre actor in Sagar in 2013, in a Production Oriented Workshop which organized by National School of Drama, hosted by Anveshan Theatre Group, Sagar under supervision and direction of well-known theatre artist and film actor Mr. Govind Namdev (NSD). He leads Rangsaadhak Theatre Group as well as he works as a member of Anveshan Theatre group’s Repertory since 2018. He worked as an actor in 20 plays like Madhukar Shah “The hero of Bundelkhand” (Writer & Director: Govind Namdev), Jaati hi puchho saadhu ki (Director: Govind Namdev), Othello (Director: Govind Namdev) Aadhe Adhure (Director: JagdeeshSharma), Bhagam Bhag, Aashadh ka ek din, Andha Yug etc. He gave Direction in Bhartendu Harishchandra’s And her nagri, Piyush Mishra’s San 2025, Moliar’s Jawani banaam Budhapa. Also he Debuted as an actor in a short film “MidDay Meal” directed by Manish Dubey followed by feature film “Family First” directed by Shiv Pathak, “Baraat” (Upcoming) directed by Sandeep Pandey, “Paridhaan” directed by Santosh Tiwari, short film “Kiska Darr?” directed by Satish Sahu, a documentary film based on Orchha and an ad film. Web series “Kripya dhyan dijiye” directed by Dakxin Chhara. Organized and Involved in many Musical shows since 1999, as a President of Ghazal Lovers’ Group Musical shows and Ghazal evenings: Aaghaz, Andaaz, Ehsaas (for welfare of Tsunami Victims), Ada, Mehfil, Tasavvur.
The Group
Rangsaadhak Theatre Group, Sagar is a registered group dedicated to theatre and its main objectives are as follows:
To make efforts for promoting theatre and theatre activities.
To serve the mother tongue Hindi through theatre and try to contribute to its promotion.
To strive for richness of theatre music.
Making efforts to promote theatrical literature.
Making efforts for the propagation and richness ofBundeli culture.
To make efforts to give Sagar, recognition in thefield of theatre in entire nation and abroad.
To make efforts to serve other aspects related toart.Making efforts to organize workshops related totheatre.
Making efforts to organize production oriented workshops for children so that new generation can be connected to theatre.
Making efforts for the elevation of Hindi literature.
To strive to ensure our contribution to social reform through excellent and meaningful plays.
Making efforts to take theatre to the deprived sections of the society.
To make efforts to organize national level theatre festivals from time to time.
Making efforts to organize Group Discussions and seminars on theatre from time to time.
Making efforts to organize workshops related to playwriting.
The Play
The play titled “*San 2025*” revolves around a crime thriller narrative. It follows a celebrated crime novelist, Dheeraj Adhikari, who is known for basing his novels on real-life crimes. He is being investigated by a private detective, Sufi, who suspects him and has been trailing him for a longtime.
The tension escalates when Sufi manages to enter the novelist’s hotel suite and starts unraveling shocking parallels between the novelist’s books and real-life incidents. Using strong evidence, Sufi compels Dheeraj to confess to his crimes. However, instead of facing justice, Dheeraj manipulates the situation, ultimately driving Sufi to suicide—thus securing new material for his next novel.
The play heavily draws from the Nirbhaya case, exploring deep psychological and social issues while questioning morality, crime, and the audience’s fascination with dark, gruesome storytelling.
Director’s Note
“This play highlights the blind race of modernity and progress, where, amid our stressful and chaotic lifestyles, we crave even a fleeting moment of peace. It points to our insatiable greed for cheap thrills.
The kind of literature we prefer to consume these days, in my opinion, holds no real necessity in society. Yet, we turn it into a blockbuster. In such a scenario, the very figure we ought to condemn as the villain is the one we crown as a hero and make our ideal.
This play presents countless such questions before us.
Even if, as an audience, its narrative holds us guilty, we will continue to favor this kind of literature. And what we truly prefer is— the grotesque and the terrifying.”
Manoj Kumar SoniDirector of SAN-2025 (Drama)
