Talking about how Kashmir was once a paradise on earth or how the insurgency and militancy progressively killed the fragrance of almond blossoms and apple orchards in the valley and replaced it with gunpowder through art and theatre is old hat.
A new play Rizwaan shows how young dreams and lives are crushed everyday in the valley of Kashmir
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How did they deal with their valley turning into a terror land? Directed by Abhishek Majumdar, this bilingual play is based on The Country Without a Post Office, a collection of poems by Aga Shahid Ali, an American poet of Kashmiri origin and upbringing.
Explaining why he chose this particular collection of Shahid Ali, Majumdar from Indian Ensemble, a Bangalore based theatre group, says, "I share Ali's worldview that violence is not the means of achieving your goals. Instead of a general view, the poems give a humanitarian perspective on the act of violence."
The script written by Majumdar in Hindustani and English revolves around the experience of Rizwaan, a young teenager, who was born and died in the valley. The play shows how Rizwaan's deceased family welcomes him to the world of dead after his brutal slaughter.
As Rizwaan's family describes their experiences and deaths, the play becomes a poignant tale of the loss a Kashmiri family faces due to insurgency and military occupation. The horrifying circumstances mingle with emotions of the characters making Rizwaan seem like a fundamental understanding of the pain of losing loved ones.
Sharing that the script is constantly improvised depending on inputs from photographers, filmmakers and critics who are experts on the Kashmir issue, Majumdar says, "This is one topic that has been discussed time and again and we have become sterilized. The idea of the play is to get people out of that comfort zone about Kashmir."
The performance, which has around 17 actors wearing masks and playing the character of Rizwaan, chronicles how children grow up dreaming of a happy life and what happens when the bubble bursts. Using an intense physical form of theatre, Rizwaan shows the irony of how a family welcomes a member in the world of the dead and not that of the living.
The play shows how Rizwaan or The Gatekeeper of Paradise tries to build his own little heaven till his last breath. Through the murder of Rizwaan, Majumdar seems to signify how millions of young souls from the valley die with disappointment everyday.
Insisting that Rizwaan as a character and a play transcends all geographical and political boundaries, Majumdar says, "It is the circumstances and not the characters that are unusual. Though there are multiple people wearing masks and playing Rizwaan, yet the bottom line remains that the desires and the emotion of all of them remain the same."
At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar
On October 9, 7.30 pm
October 10, 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm
Call 97390 96270
For Rs 100
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