Theatrical take on ‘Raag Darbari’ staged

Lucknow: A play ‘Katha Shivpalganj Ki' based on famous work of renowned Hindi writer Shrilal Shukla was staged by Darpan Lucknow as part of the birth centenary celebration of Shrilal Shukla at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan on Thursday. Directed by Manoj Sharma and adapted by Ravindra Shukla, the play is an attempt to bring satirical vision and sharp social criticism to life of Shukla's award winning novel ‘Raag Darbari' on stage. Some important parts of the novel have been staged. The novel is realistic portrayal of the Indian rural system, administrative structure and socio-political ironies. Its sharp satirical style and lively characters are relevant even today. The play portrayed the politics of Shivpalganj's Chhangamal inter college and the satire emanated from it made people laugh. Characters in the play were played by Anil Rastogi, Gurudatt Pandey, Saurabh Gupta, Arvind Singh, Aryan Shukla, Sayyed Lareb, Sumit Srivastava, Farhan, Krish, Sanjay Deglurkar, Virendra Rastogi, Tariq Iqbal, Ramji Shukla, Raju Pandey, Ravi Ranjan and Anand Sharma.