A glimpse of Kalidasa’s world on stage

Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 7

The second edition of three-day drama festival — ‘Asees’— concluded with the staging of Mohan Rakesh’s theatrical magnum opus ‘Ashaad ka ek din’ at Randhawa Auditorium here on Friday.

The festival was organised by the Impact Arts, the Haryana Kala Parishad and the Punjab Arts Council.

The play, structured in 100 BCE-400 BCE, brought alive various facets of the life of celestial playwright Kalidasa. It was directed by TV personality Dr Veena Dhir and Harwinder Saini. The play depicted good old days of Kalidasa when he led a peaceful life, romantically involved with Mallika, in a Himalayan village till she exhorted him to apprise Ujjaini king Chandragupta of his literary genius and wisdom for a better future.

Kalidas rises to fame and gets married to a noblewoman, Priyangumanjari, leaving Mallika heartbroken. Through many twists and turns, the play depicts the psyche of both women —Mallika sacrificing her love and Priyangumanjari assuring the former that she had been the inspiration of all literary creations by Kalidasa.

Navdeep Bajwa, Varsha, Navjit Kaur, Sourav Sharma and Priya Sharma essayed the lead roles.