Jammu journalist

Internationally acclaimed Dogri play ‘Bawa Jitto’ enthralled the jam-packed audience at the Matrika Auditorium of SMVD University, Katra. The enthused audience applauded this mind-blowing performance repeatedly and gave standing ovation for giving them an experience of the life-time.  Written by Prof. Ram Nath Shastri and directed by Padamshree Balwant Thakur this magnificent presentation of Natrang was showcased by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board as a part of Navratra Festival celebrations-2017. Earlier introducing to the pan-India audience, Natrang Director Balwant Thakur informed that this proud production of Natrang is the longest living contemporary theatre play of India. Since the year 1986 this play is being performed all-over the country and abroad, projecting and promoting the priceless cultural ethos of the region globally. Since last four years Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has been very kind to support its sustenance and Natrang performs six shows of this play in Mela Aghar Jitto, Navratra Festival Katra and Jhiri Mela each year. On the occasion he thanked Honorable Governor Jammu & Kashmir Government Sh. N.N. Vohra for supporting the sustenance of this play based on the life and sacrifice of a great devotee of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.

Set in the rural backdrop, story of  ‘Bawa Jitto’ portrays the age-old saga of exploitation of landless farmers by landlords. Due to the constant and persistent pressures of relatives, with a piece of land as bone of contention, Bawa Jitto, a hard working, farm less farmer is forced to leave his native village. Accompanied by his nine-year-old daughter, he takes shelter in the house of a friend in Shamachak, a nearby village. The efforts of his friend Rullo result in a land grant from landlord in Shamachak and one fourth of the produce is fixed as land revenue. The hard work put in by him, the sweat and toil of Jitto turns a barren land into prolific treasure. This makes avaricious landlord to back out on his word and ask for major share of the crop. Helpless Jitto, unable to endure injustice, kills himself. The agony becomes boundless when Gauri, his little daughter immolates herself on her father's pyre.

The custodians of our traditional wisdom Girdhari Lal and Harbans Lal won the hearts on one and all. Amongst senior actors Neeraj Kant as Bawa Jitto, Anil Tickoo as Sarpanch/Malli and Suresh Kumar as Mehta Bir Singh gave engrossing performances. Rahul Singh as Raja/Isso, Mohd Yaseen as Rullo/Aadmi, Mahikshit Singh as Ghaghi, Deewankshi Sibikhi as Jojan, Sanchita Dubey as Bua Gauri and Vrinda Sharma as Jeuni gave praiseworthy performances. The others who were appreciated included Adesh Dhar, Afaque Khan, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Mohit Kaul, Goutam Sharma, Gautam Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Kuldeep Angral, Deepali Sharma, Meenakshi Bhagat, Shivani Sangotra, Abhi Bargotra and Shivam Singh,

Lights were designed and executed by Gaurav Jamwal and the stage was managed by Bhisham Gupta. The second show of this much celebrated play will feature on 29^th of September, 2017 at 6 pm at the Auditorium of Spiritual Growth Centre, Katra on the concluding day of Navratra Festival-2017.