JAMMU, Jun 14: Natrang, in its weekly theatre series ‘Sunday Theatre’, presented a hilarious Hindi play titled ‘Shaatir Khiladi’, written by noted playwright Daya Prakash Sinha and directed by Neeraj Kant. Packed with instinctive humour and witty situations, the play kept the audience entertained throughout and drew repeated bursts of laughter.
The story revolves around Lala Chadami Lal, an elderly man who has married for the fourth time after losing his three previous wives. His new wife is much younger than him and completely dominates him, making him dance to her tunes. Once known as a commanding husband in his younger days, Lala has now become a timid and submissive man because of his wife’s stubborn and fiery temperament.
However, unwilling to let his reputation suffer in the neighbourhood, Lala constantly boasts before his friends and acquaintances about how firmly he controls his wife. He fabricates stories of his authority and dominance to conceal the reality of his situation at home.
The plot takes an amusing turn when Lala fails to buy a particular dress demanded by his wife. Enraged, she scolds him mercilessly, gives him a proper beating and throws him out of the house, warning him not to return without the dress. Determined to save face before his friends, Lala invents another tale, claiming that he has deliberately refused to fulfil his wife’s demand because he knows how to deal with women. Despite his bravado, he remains terrified of confronting her.
As the story unfolds, Lala mortgages his ring to a friend to obtain money for purchasing the desired dress. His friends mock him for surrendering to his wife’s wishes. However, the laughter soon disappears when they discover that the ring he had mortgaged was fake, while he had managed to secure a substantial amount of money from them. The twist reveals that despite his apparent helplessness, Lala is indeed an “old champion” and a master player.
The play featured impressive performances by Natrang’s young artists Aryan Sharma, Akash Wadhwan, Kushal Bhat, and Nikshay Mahajan, who brought the comic characters to life with remarkable energy and timing.
The lighting design and execution were handled by Neeraj Kant, while the show was coordinated by Mohd. Yaseen. The presentations were conducted by Bhavya Sharma.
rformance was warmly appreciated by the audience, who enjoyed the play’s humour, engaging storyline and entertaining climax.