Men in army uniform rudely rebuked them to be seated and switch off their phones while passing funny comments time and again. The audience was momentarily perplexed until they came to realize that these men were actually actors. The pre-play act was just a playful insight on what was to come.
This theatrical adaptation of Ghanchakkar, originally a novel by Sanjeev Upreti, directed by Sunil Pokharel received great reviews when it was performed in Delhi last December.
After viewing the play, we are assured that it definitely does deserve it.
The play is about the internal conflicts of a professor at Tribhuvan University, also a columnist at a newspaper, hanging between the lines of lunacy and sanity. His mental instability is linked with the political instability of the country after the Royal Massacre.
The protagonist, played by Kamal Mani Aryal, is constantly seen at unease while his alter ego, played by Bibhusan Basnet, keeps drilling him to find out the solution to his intensifying madness. As the word “Khoja!” (find out) reverberates in his mind, he runs away from home and people who are trying to get him into a mental asylum.
He then journeys from being a bogus sage and getting treatment in an asylum to gain back his internal normalcy. But that state is never fully attained, it being plagued by the ongoing external madness in the country.
The protagonist’s madness is an analogy of the stressful confusions that a country’s disorder and chaos can have on people’s psyche.
Sunil Pokharel yet again presents his directorial brilliance, duly complimented by the remarkable enactment on the part of the actors. Incorporating video and graphic projections of the coronation ceremony, protests, raging fires, and the valley being engulfed by water, it effectively highlights the political settings of the play along with its aftermaths.
Besides that, the play is creatively enthused with music. The talented Bibhusan Basnet steals the limelight at some points with not just his performance but his musical additions in the play as well.
Another notable achievement is the humor in the play. From the teasing pre-play act to its hilarious scenes, it is filled with political and comical satires all throughout.
But underneath the humor lie more grave issues. The plot is set against the recent history of our country that still resonates with our present. So the audience will certainly relate to the political chaos, power clashes, despotism of security officials, and the social injustice portrayed in the play.
To present the entire context of a novel in a drama of one hour and 40 minutes is a difficult task. Moreover, when presenting the complexity of a conflict between self and the alter ego on stage, it can be baffling not just for the director but the audience as well.
But the task is met successfully, and the play vividly details the plot of the novel in a concise and an even more artistic way.
“Ghanchakkar” will be staged till January 9, at 4:30 pm at the Rimal Natak Ghar, Purano Baneshwor.
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