Satire of ‘Aala Afsar’ enthrals the audience at NCZCC
PRAYAGRAJ: Dialogues sung to the beat of nakkara (drum), music and dance in the nautanki ‘Aala Afsar’ enthralled the audience on the third day of the ongoing five-day theatre festival, underway at North Central Zone Cultural Centre (NCZCC), on Monday.
The fest has been organised by Vinod Rastogi Smriti Sansthan in association with union Ministry of Culture.
The play was written by Mudra Rakshas while Atamjit Singh directed it for the artistes of Vinod Rastogi Smriti Sansthan.
Based on the famous English play ‘Inspector General’, the story of this nautanki started from Chitpur Kasba, where the chairman and officials are hand in glove to mint money through corrupt practices. The chairman comes to know that an officer is scheduled to visit Chitpur for inspection. By sheer chance, a cheat comes to the same Kasba and stays in a hotel.
The chairman and the officials think that the person is the officer from Delhi and offer all possible comfort and money to him. The cheat disappears after collecting a hefty amount. The chairman and officers then receive a message that the real officer will visit the kasba the next day.
The singing and the acting talent of the artistes cast a magic spell and people enjoyed the satire. Ajay Mukherjee was the assistant director of this Nautanki.
Artistes who impressed included Shubham Verma, Ashish Yadav, Abhilash Narain, Ajay Mukherjee, Gaueav Tripathi, Aman Pandey, Rohit Yadav, Anuj Kumar, Pratima Srivastava and Riya Jaiswal.
The accompanists included Phul Chand on nakkara, Shashi Kant on harmonium, and Praveen Srivastava on dholak. Light design by Sujoy Ghoshal and make-up by Sanjay Chaudhary added beauty to the production.