Mumbai theatre artists mesmerize Gaya audience

GAYA: Theatre artistes from the tinsel city on Saturday presented a powerful play to highlight the shortcomings of the evidence-based justice delivery system and use of the system to their own advantage by the high and mighty thereby depriving the less privileged of their rightful claims.
"Akhir Kaun", a play presented by the Mumbai artists, kept a capacity audience at the Renaissance Auditorium mesmerized throughout the 100-minute show which depicted a variety of human behavioural patterns, mood fluctuations and hugely selfish approach bordering treachery in crisis situations.
Based on "Ten Little Indians", an Agatha Christie novel, the play demonstrated the frustrations of a judicial officer and his limitations in justice delivery. The protagonist, Mukul Nag in the role of a frustrated judicial officer takes recourse to extra-judicial measures to punish the guilty and remove the heavy burden on his heart by doing little by remaining tied to the maze of procedural wrangles.
Helpless in bringing crooks including a political leader killer masquerading as doctor, operator of a gambling den, a smart lawyer adept in getting the guilty released and an engineer constructing sub-standard structures, the frustrated judicial officer resorts to conspiracy to assemble all the crooks at one place separately inviting them for a deal.
The protagonist, thereafter, takes all of them to mid-sea and gets them pay through their lives by resorting to gimmicks and other less than fair means. The most gruesome death is reserved for the street smart politician who ends up as food for hungry crocodiles. In the end, the judicial officer, too, commits suicide as he also considers himself guilty qualifying for capital punishment.
Play director Rajesh Tiwari, a graduate of the prestigious National School of Drama, made changes in the Agatha Christie storyline to give it a native flavour. The director himself played the role of the dishonest engineer. Megha Sharma played the wimpish owner of the gambling den, whereas the killer doctor's role was played by Rajeev Raj. Talib Mehdi was in the role of the lawyer.