City theatre group to stage Lohorir Rajhonsho

A city theatre group is all set to perform the play,

Lohorir Rajhonsho

, on Friday. Translated to Bengali from Lahero Ki Rajhans, originally written by Hindi playwright

Mohan Rakesh

, the play delves into the country’s rich history.
Abhaash Dakshin Kolkata, the group that is performing the pay, is quite excited about the performance. According to director Sekhar Samaddar, it’s a very important play, not because of its relevance in today’s time, but mostly because of its execution. “The story revolves around the struggle between Gautam Buddha and the then queen of Kapilvastu. Though the play is written in a classical style, it has many elements such as the evergreen existential crisis, which are very relevant even today,” he added.
The play was first staged in December in Kolkata and the second show took place in Siliguri. This was followed by two more shows in Kolkata. “We have received extremely positive feedback from the audience and that’s exactly why we are staging it once again,” Sekhar said.
The original writer of the play, Mohan Rakesh, started his career as a postman in Dehradun and which he shifted to Delhi. But he bagged a teaching job in Jalandhar, Punjab, for a short while. He was one of the pioneers of the Nai Kahani (new story) literary movement in Hindi literature in the 1950s. He wrote the first modern Hindi play,

Ashadh Ka Ek Din

, in 1958, which won a competition organised by the

Sangeet Natak Akademi

. He went on to make significant literary contributions through novels, short stories, travelogues, criticisms, memoirs and plays.