Punjabi Heritage Festival

Organised by the Delhi Punjabi Academy, the festival, says Dr Rawail Singh, secretary of the Academy, is an attempt to showcase the traditions of Punjab, promote theatre and also give audiences outside Punjab a look at what’s new in theatre in the state. “Earlier, the festival was designed as a competitive one, with amateur theatre groups staging their productions. But this year, we have decided to make it a non-competitive stage, inviting senior directors to present latest works of their choice,” adds Singh.
An academician, playwright and director of Moga-based Off Stage, a theatre group, professor Pali Bhupinder Singh has directed over 50 plays and is at present pursuing research on poetics in Punjabi drama. Singh’s play, Khadd, explores the superstitions that plague deras in Punjab and will be the opening play of the festival. Pali feels that a play must belong to every spectator, connecting with his trials, dreams, anguish, sorrows, and reassert one’s belief in life.
Kewal Dhaliwal, who has made Amritsar a nucleus of theatre, founded Manch-Rangmanch two decades back and has devoted himself entirely to Punjabi theatre. After directing more than a 100 plays and acting in more than 150, Dhaliwal feels that theatre, today, has become an integral part of Punjab’s cultural milieu. At the festival, Dhaliwal is presenting his latest production Drishtidaan, based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore. “It’s the story of a girl who goes blind after her marriage, due to her doctor husband’s callousness. The play charts her journey from the eyes of a woman who can’t see the outside world but has insight and is sensitive to the feelings of others. “The play had to be be visually stunning to convey what she has lost and gained. So I have used symbols like diyas, smoke, Bengali rangolis and flowers to convey the woman’s feelings. We also use Tagore’s poetry. The challenge was the presentation, having never worked with such a character,” says Dhaliwal.
Delhi’s theatre audience will get a rare chance to see a Punjabi theatre production that goes back to the pre-Sikh period. Playwright and theatre director Atamjit will present Panchnad Da Paani, a play based on two historical short stories, written by Manmohan Bawa. Though set in 13th Century Punjab, the play brings to fore issues of contemporary times, both social and political.
Delhi’s Ravi Taneja will direct Mangoo Te Bikkar, written by CD Sidhu, which deals with the pain and pathos of senior citizens. “Stree Patra (A Wife’s Letter), a short story written by Rabindranath Tagore, is a story without drama, any significant highs or lows and no remarkable incident. That’s what makes it so absorbing to work on,” says Neelam Man Singh, talking about her play that is part of the festival. Written in 1914, the story, adds the thespian, has a strong resonance even today, expressing a woman’s needs and expectations in a wife’s letter to her husband, after she has left him. The story, adds the director, surprised her, for it was positive and she could completely relate to it. “It gives primacy to a woman’s point of view, contrasting the conflicting identities of women in the modern and traditional set-up, within the context of sweeping historical changes,” notes Singh.
The plays will be staged at Shri Ram Centre, from February 20 to 24, at 6.30 pm.