Eminent stage director and playwright Atamjit's plays have been deeply touching the soul of the audience which capture the dilemma of man confronting an inhuman society. His landmark works include “Kamloops Dian Machhian”, ”Rishtian Da Kee Rakhiye Naa”, which was translated into several Indian language and published by the National Book Trust of India, “Main Taan Ikk Sarangi Haan”, ”Panch Nad Da Pani” and “Tatti Tawi Da Sach”. Apart from Punjab, his plays have been staged in cities, like Delhi and countries like Canada and America.
His much acclaimed play “Rishtian Da Ki Rakhiye Naa” which was presented by Manchan Arts and Research Centre, Mohali at the ongoing Theatre Olympics evoked tremendous response from the audience. The entire action takes place in a mental asylum and most of the characters are inmates of the asylum suffering from mental malady. Unaware of the tragedy and genocide in the wake of the Partition of India, we get the sense of the past of inmates from their incoherent conversations. The minimal set and subtle lighting by Ashok Bhagat, off-stage music composed by Atul Sharma and the distinct image of barbed wire, signifying the division of the country, create sad, melancholic and anguished strain that disturbs the audience emotionally. Imaginatively conceived and executed with finesse, it creates a theatrical art that grips the attention of the audience.
Recipient of several prestigious awards from Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi, Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi for his contribution to enrich Indian theatrical art, Atamjit has recreated his script out of thematic elements from Manto's celebrated story “Toba Tek Singh”, a severe indictment of the Partition.
Atamjit has created new characters to provide multiple layers of socio-economic and political background for the dramatic action and to impart sharpness to the inner conflict of the inmates of the asylum. The characters have not altogether forgotten their past and are not totally ignorant of the present, ruined by bloodshed and exodus of vast humanity from one country to another. The production captures flashes of sanity that the inmates display while interacting with their visitors, especially in the case of Bachan Singh who is often visited by his kind-hearted Muslim neighbour who tries to convey him that their beloved village has metamorphosed into a graveyard. As a result of the Partition, their village has become part of newly formed country called Pakistan.
The Hindus and Sikhs of the village have been forced to leave the village and sent to India. Bachan Singh is told that his family members including his young daughter are all sent to India.
The very mention of his daughter makes Bachan Singh hysterical. Her picture appears in his feverish mind. He also captures the hazy picture of his brother who has grabbed his land. In one of the meetings with his neighbour, he recalls that his daughter and neighbour's daughter, who are of the same age, are very close friends and now they are separated forever. The neighbour's daughter is married and her husband is introduced to him and he does not know about his daughter. He is possessed with the fit of madness. In fact, these meetings are painful for Bachan Singh which haunts him of his past. His good neighbour tries hard to balm his wounds.
Other inhabitants of the asylum include a professor, a lawyer, a man mentally affected by the desertion of his beloved and a Fauji who praises British rulers. At times, they try to dissect the meaning and consequences of Partition and most of the time they pooh-poohed the very idea of Partition. One day they are shocked and terrified to discover that two police parties representing India and Pakistan have arrived in the asylum, starting to identify Hindu patients and Muslim patients with a view to send them to the country partitioned on the basis of religion. The director and performers created this scene in a restraint manner revealing the inner pain of the inhabitants who are in a state of stupefied astonishment. Despite their mental disease, they have formed a kind of fraternity and now they are being separated using police force.
Composite culture
In Manto's short story, Bachan Singh resists the attempt of being forcefully send to India. He climbs up a tree and takes a long leap into the air and falls dead on a piece of land that divides India and Pakistan. Atamjit's Bachan Singh holds the tree, declaring branches of a tree could be pruned but the root of the tree must be protected which symbolises the composite culture of India. He confronts the police while holding the root of the tree.
The performers truly live their characters. Rajwinder Singh as Bachan Singh creates a portrait which exudes tension, anguish with touches of pathos. Taranvir Singh as Fauji, Mukesh Kunyal as Prof. Jarnail Singh, Deepak Chetal as Advocate, Jasvir Singh as Noordeen and Sukhveer Singh as Saleem bring to life the day-to-day narrative of their lives as inmates of mental asylum with a touch of sardonic humour.
