`Komagata Maru' soon to be staged in English, Hindi, Bengali

PATIALA: Punjabi play `Komagatta Maru', written by Gurpreet Singh Ratol, will soon be staged in Hindi, English and Bengali .
Besides, there are also plans to translate the play into French by the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation in Vancouver.
Harbhajan Gill, President of the foundation said, “The play in itself is unique with all the historical facts shown in it and in accordance with dates.It was played across the country but we want to take it to the world and for this we got it translated into English while our efforts are on to get it translated in French language too.“
Bachan Singh Saral from Kolkata said that translation of the play to Bengali would be completed within weeks and will be staged in different parts of West Bengal.Ramanita Shardha, who translated the play to English, said that the translated version is yet to be played.
The play in Punjabi is directed by Jaspal Kaur Deol of the Punjabi university .
The union culture ministry disbursed a grant of Rs 7 lakh in 2014 to Punjabi University for organising of the play at different places acros the country and to publish book on the Komagatta Maru incident. The University reprinted the autobiography of Giani Gurdit Singh. Additional Rs 3.25 lakh was also given by Centre to make DVDs of the play that were supposed to be distributed free of cost among schools, colleges, universities and prominent personalities so that it could be screened across the nation. The play was staged in Kolkata, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jamshedpur and Kanpur. A total 19 shows were staged across the country including the one at IIT Karagpur.
Gurpreet said, “Besides criticism I have to face number of controversies that emerged over the historical facts and then I proved them all before the historians as I had read dozens of books over this matter before writing the play .“
He added, “There were number of facts like freedom fighter Sohan Singh Bhakna supplied the weapons in the ship instead of Giani Gurdit Singh. Gurdit Singh was having only a plan to purchase ship and later when Gurdit Singh knew about the weapons he got them thrown in ocean in Japan.
“Gurdit Singh did not ran away rather he was forced by his companions to escape when British government opened the fire in Calcutta. All of it is dedicated to my countrymen and I don't want to take any credit. I deplore that these heroes who fought for freedom are left completely ignored in history being taught in schools and colleges.“