City theatre group to highlight poet Nirala’s life at Mumbai fest

Tribune news service

Amritsar, August 16

A city-based theatre group, ‘Dastak’, will stage a play on Suryakant Tripathi’s life during the Sanhita Manch Festival in Mumbai to be held from August 17 to 19. 

The group is one of the three theatre groups selected across the country to feature in the festival that is helmed by Bollywood actor Zeeshan Ayub and his wife Rasika Agashe, who is also a theatre artiste. 

Led by NSD alumni and director Rajender Singh, Dastak will stage a biographical play titled ‘Nirala’. 

“The script of ‘Nirala’ was short listed among the 80 plays submitted for the festival,” said Rajender. 

Based on the life of writer and poet Suryakant Tripathi, who was known by his pen name Nirala, the play focuses on the tragedies and inspirations behind Nirala’s iconic and celebrated works. 

“His life was mostly tragic and he faced problems in his childhood and later, as a writer, he wrote against social injustices and exploitation that never earned him a decent living. But he was considered an inspirational writer and novelist, his works reflect upon the extraordinary talent he had, just like his name Nirala,” added Rajender. 

He is also glad that a group from Amritsar will share the stage with some of the better known theater talents in Mumbai. 

“The festival mostly features plays that have a social message or highlight any social issue. Using theatre as a tool for social awareness is the basic idea and it is for the first time that a theatre group from the city will be featured among the top talent in the country,” he added.