19.03.2024 (Sunday)
SWAHA
Darpan, Lucknow
Subhadip Raha
Hindi
01hr 25 mins
THE DIRECTOR…..
Subhadip Raha is an alumnus of the National School of Drama (New Delhi) and also of Metfilm School, London. He worked as the Head of Faculty and Dean in Anupam Kher’s “AN ACTOR PREPARES” and also as Creative Director at Indira School of Communication Pune. Till now he has written 6 original plays including Swaha, Aakhri Vasant etc., and some of them have been performed in prestigious festivals like Bharangam (Bharat Rang Mahotsav), Kala Ghoda Mahotsav, Canfest (Paradeep), Vivechana (Jabalpur), Kalidas Samman Samaroh, Bharat Bhawan Bhopal, at London and Indian Embassy in Italy. He has directed more than 50 plays in the last 14 years. Presently he is working as a lecturer in Bharatendu Natya Academy, Lucknow. Swaha is his latest play which he has written exclusively for Darpan Lucknow. Even before this, he had written the other play “Aakhri Vasant” specially for Darpan.
THE GROUP…..
Darpan is one of the oldest and most prolific amateur theatre group of the Northern India established by Professor Satyamurti ji in 1961. Its Lucknow Chapter was established in 1971.
Darpan, Lucknow is one of the most active and determined organisations of Indian theatre. Darpan has often registered its proud presence in all the major theatre centres, theatre festivals and theatre events of the country and has made its creative contribution to the advancement of non-commercial Hindi theatre. Darpan got the opportunity to showcase its some of the much-acclaimed plays in Bharangam organised by NSD. Darpan also had the honour of representing India’s first Theatre Olympics (eighth in the world) with its famous play “Aurat Ki Jung.” Darpan has given more than nineteen hundred theatrical performances across the
country of around 300 plays of diverse linguistic provenance. Darpan is most active and doing regular theatre and giving priority to the upliftment of theatre by cooperating with other theatre organizations instead of competing with them. A number of the artistes associated with Darpan have made their mark at the national level in all fields, be it theatre, cinema, serials, web series or technical aspects etc.
Darpan is indebted to a number of India’s distinguished personalities like Abraham Alkazi, B.V. Karanth, Balraj Pandit, Amrit Lal Nagar, Lachchhu Maharaj, Bansi Kaul, Anupam Kher who supported and guided us; to eminent directors who immensely enhanced the quality of our productions; to eminent writers like Mudra Rakshas, Giriraj Kishore, Urmil Kumar Thapliyal, Iqbal Majeed, Vivek Chatterjee and Subhadip Raha who specifically wrote the plays for Darpan. The Proposed play Swaha is also exclusively written for Darpan by Subhadip Raha, an alumnus of NSD.
THE PLAY…..
The play SWAHA, is a suspense thriller specially. A platonic love story arising from the background of the 1971 war in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), which has deep affection, selflessness, unwavering trust, understanding and compassion.
This suspense thriller starts with Major General (retd.) Surya Prakash Bhatia receiving a call from a Dhaka-based journalist Shikha, who reminds him of how he had saved her, and her family life during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. She wants to come to India and meet him after 40 years because Major is her protector. She also seeks his permission for an interview for a Dhaka based magazine. Major Bhatia agrees and invites Shikha. However, Bhatia’s son Mandar, who is an agent of India’s intelligence agency, objects to Shikha’s visit and interrogates her on her arrival. Shikha manages to dodge interrogation and misleads Mandar to another case. After several twists and turns, it is revealed that Bhatia and Shikha once shared a platonic relationship also. Shikha is actually a spy and works for Intelligence agency, spying on Mandar. The play ends with a dramatic turn.
Relationship between family and duty… the suspense in the story unfolds layer- by-layer and astonishes the audience.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE…..
The inspiration to write this play came from various news stories mentioned in the media and social media and research work on the bravery story of the Indian Army in 1971. The casting selection of the play was most important in this. The complexities within the play were used very seriously in the casting with senior and experienced actors. Throughout the rehearsal process, keeping in mind the framework of proscenium theatre, an effort was made to give a very close experience to the scenes, and moments happening even to the audience sitting far away. The play Swaha narrates a sacrifice and an integrity, which has been given the utmost importance in the entire process. In the style of acting, there was an attempt to go beyond the well-known and accepted practice and a desire to touch the multidimensional thinking and unexpected dimensions of human being. As a director, “Swaha” highlighted my heart-touching experiences and inspired me to be more serious towards it.
Cast…..
Anil Rastogi
Divya Bhardwaj Bhattacharya
Dr Rakesh Kumar
Vikas Srivastava
Shubham Kumar Dubey
Virendra Rastogi
Credits…..
