The play “Lassanwala” presented by Apna Manch Drama Company at the 12th. Mahindra Theatre Festival as the opening play, at Shri Ram Centre shows a glimpse of the fine contemporary dramatic art being created in India.
An unpretentious production, “Lassanwala” impresses in establishing situations and the process of character building. Its resolution stuns the audience with its telling comment on caste as social evil and transformation of heart of a highly conservative man. Written by Vidit Tripathi in collaboration with Hemant Pandey, the central character in the pay is Kallu is a Brahmin and prides himself to belong to the highest hierarchy of Brahaminical order. He makes his living by selling garlic which is grown in his small piece of land that belongs to his ancestors. Ironically, he does not eat garlic. A young Dalit works on his fields to cultivate garlic where his father had too worked for the Brahmin as a landless farmer. Whenever the Brahmin finds him derelict in his duty, he beats him with a stick because if he punishes him with his hands, he fears that with the touch of his body he will get polluted and has to take a bath for purifying himself. Sincere as the Dalit is, he works with his heart and soul. In stark contrast, Brahmin's good for nothing son and his daughter-in-law keep on scheming against him to grab his hard earned money.
The play opens with the Brahmin taking bathe adhering to elaborate rituals. In front of his modest house, some persons are rendering the verses of Kabir. After completing his morning rituals associated with bathing, he sits on his cot and joins singers for a while. He rebuffs his daughter-in-law who objects to the gathering in front of house early in the morning.
Dramatic turn
In dire need of many to pay for his son’s ailment, which he is feigning to rob him, he collects sacks of garlic in the store of a Brahmin having faith in the nobility of the entire community of Brahmins. But he gets the biggest shock of his life when the store owner blatantly refuses to receive any sack of garlic from him. The narrative takes a dramatic turn which is unfolded in a police station. After confronting truth , his illusion about nobility and superiority of Brahminical caste strips off.
The verses of Kabir rendered in tuneful voices play vital role in enriching the humanitarian philosophy of the play and serve to comment on the unity of human race irrespective of caste and creed.
Director Hemant Pandey has treated some of the sequences in a farcical style. Keeping in view the philosophical kernel of the play, he should have tuned down the farcical element. Similarly, the scene set in the police station tends to drag. A more subtle, intricate and complex treatment of the climactic scene would have invested the production with more profundity. Despite these flaws, the production leaves a deep emotional impact on the audience.
Himanshu Talreja as Kallu Brahmin creates a highly restraint portrayal, internalising the emotional ebb and flow of his character, finally rising to the height of humanity, opening up before him a new perspective about humanity and society. Alok Kumar as Gullu, the Dalit working for Brahmin Kallu, truly lives his character, acting with conviction and inner motivation. Ankita Dubey as the wife of Gullu shares with her husband the pain and hardships of landless workers, but her character displays some resistance at times. Shashi Ranjan as SHO acts admirably.
