Veer Abhimanyu

An epic



The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means “the seeing place”. It is the place where people come to see the truth about life and the social situation. So it has to be a grand place and only reality can exist…so guys prepare you to see a lot of talent and incredible experiences by perfect artists. The play I watched was a mythological (Indian most famous myth) VEER ABHIMANYU, it is an episode from the historical epic MAHABHRATA. And this was directed by AMBUJ KUKRETI, the presentation was by RANGVINAYAK RANGMANDAL, Bareilly, U.P., India. The play was presented in Parsi style. The play beautifully depicted the emotions and incidents through Mahabharata in a poetic style.
Before moving further let me first introduce you a bit with Mahabharata, and Abhimanyu the Mahabharata contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas . Among the principal works and stories in the Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.
Now it’s time to take you to a very interesting character “Abhimanyu”. (Would tell you about this character, as it is as it was dramatized in the play.)
Cast of the play: the role of Abhimanyu was played by Danish Khan, Arjuna was Pankaj Kukreti and the role of Jaidrath was played by Ajay Chahaun.
Abhimanyu's education began while he was still in Subhadra's womb. He overheard Arjuna telling Subhadra the secrets of how to enter, destroy and exit from, various battle formations. Of these, it is of note, that he only heard how to enter (but not exit or destroy) the secret of the Chakravyuha formation. As Subhadra fell asleep and thus Arjuna could not complete his explanation. Krishna, realizing that, if Abhimanyu learns the entire strategy, he would tilt the balance entirely in favor of the Pandavas, stops Arjuna from continuing the lecture, therefore Abhimanyu learns only how to enter the Chakra Vyuha.
Abhimanyu was a courageous and dashing warrior. Considered an ace archer, Abhimanyu was able to hold at bay great heroes like Drona, Duryodhana and Dushasana and Determined to exit the Chakravyuha by shattering it from within, Abhimanyu goes on rampage, reaching the heart of the trap. Fighting with such ferocity, none from the Kauravas side could best him in a one-on-one combat. The role of Abhimanyu (Danish) was depicted very beautifully and was the strongest character in the whole play that performed with so much of passion and enthusiasm. He was truly dissolved in this role and he dramatized this so nicely that one could not even blink his eyes. He just left the audience speechless with his acting..
News of the despicable acts committed on Abhimanyu reached his father Arjuna at the end of the day, who vows to kill Jayadratha the very next day by sunset, and failing to do so, commit suicide by self-immolation immediately. The Kauravas army the next day places Jayadratha furthest away from Arjuna, attempts to prevent Arjuna from reaching anywhere close to Jayadratha.
The role played by Ajay Chahaun of Jaidrath portrays a live image of the whole scenario in front of you, which I hope you will remember for whole of your life. Next comes the most awaited scene in the play…
Distracted by the coming sundown, Arjuna is unable to break through. Lord Krishna uses his powers to temporarily create an eclipse. In his haste to see Arjuna's death, Jayadratha abandons his protection and comes to taunt Arjuna. Lord Krishna removes the eclipse he has effectively created, and the sun comes out again. Before the Kauravas can take corrective action, Arjuna picks up his Gandiva (bow and arrow) and beheads Jayadratha. Arjuna's unerring Pashupathastra decapitates Jayadratha such that his head lands in his father's Lap (Jayadratha was blessed with a boon that the person who will cause his death will die immediately if his head landed on earth after he died) who is meditating; this unexpected action shocks Jayadratha father and the head fell from his lap causing his death, and Arjuna's vow to kill Jayadratha by sunset that day and avenge Abhimanyu's death is fulfilled.
As explained above, Abhimanyu, while in his mother's womb, heard from his father Arjuna, the secret of entering the Padmavyuham. However, he had only heard the entry portion of the strategy and not the exit portion as Subhadra had fallen asleep by then. It is believed that Krishna engineered Subhadra to sleep so that Abhimanyu can only partially hear the story.
According to mythology, Abhimanyu’s untimely death is attributed to his enmity with Lord Krishna in his previous birth. Abhimanyu in his previous birth was known as Abhikasura a demon. He was a friend of King Kans who left no stone unturned to kill his nephew Krishna. After Krishna killed Kans, Abhikasura vowed to take revenge on the former. Krishna, sensing the moves of the demon, wove a magic around Abhikasura, transformed him into an insect and captured him in a box. When Krishna’s sister Subhadra, after her wedding with Arjuna, accidentally opened the box, the insect got into her womb. Abhikasura was then born as Abhimanyu.
Krishna knew this and he rather sadly, prepared the ground for the death of his nephew and finally got him entrapped in Padmavyuha. When Arjuna was mourning the death of his son and squarely blamed Krishna for it, it was then Krishna explained Abhikasura’s reincarnation as Abhimanyu and the necessity for him, as the Supreme Power, to incinerate the evil force. And this was the episode in a beautiful ballad form...
The ending of the play was awesome and whole play was appreciated by the gathering. As everything went with so much of perfection, the light work, props and music, everything was amazing and received a lot of appreciation the gathering and the hard work done by artists was clearly visible. The efforts were complemented.
After speaking to them after their performance they explained how much important theater is to them and how much they love to be there and the respect, love and affection which they receive by audience gives them more courage and spirit to work hard more and perform with perfection, enthusiasm so further on.
When asked from Danish about his character played and becoming a show-stopper in this play and most importantly his views regarding the theater. For a moment I was amazed that how can a person be an extremely aficionado about his work and so I can say why was he appreciated. Everything he does is just straight from his heart and that is why he feels so alive while being in such a profession. And when I asked him about the theatre, he just stated few lines as “theatre just fills me up so much that when I come into the theatre I get a sense of security. I love an audience. I love people, and I act because I like trying to give pleasure to people.”
I just wish to watch such kinds of plays further on, as this is how we can even revive one’s own country’s epics and save a bit of our culture also. Theatre is a place where only talent and efforts live for long and so I hope that many such kind of talent comes and give such spell bounded performances further on also as this is the only natural and realistic way of entertainment.