Tanveen Kawoosa
Playright and theatre director Amin Bhat is coming up an experimental spoof on environment this week. The play, April Fool, to be presented by Bhat’s Mehboob Cultural Society,on March 18 is a dramatic statement on the fading glory of world famous Dal Lake. The play is aimed at generating awareness among the public about the deteriorating status of the Lake. “The dialogues in the play April Fool are spiced with colloquial wit and pun. Yet, between the lines, the serious theme is subtly woven in the play. The play casts 15 artists,” Bhat says.
Extremely fond of theatre, Bhat has contributed to this performing art since decades. Bhat, who laid the genesis of Mehboob Cultural Society in 1978, has several success¬ful productions to his credit. Some of his plays include Shinakhti card, Naad, Tchal, White Paper and the opera Habba Khatoon which was staged at Hat factory in London.
The uniqueness in Bhat’s plays is that he works on socio-politically relevant themes.
Bhat presented Naad in 2005 which again had serious contemporary relevance. In the last two decades theater in Kashmir has suffered as hardly any meaningful activity was performed. Unlike other forms of art, Bhat says, theatre is a live performance and there was a risk factor involved in the staging of play. Apart from having directed several plays, Bhat has over the years created a place for himself in the folk art. The richness of Kashmiri folk theatre can be gauged from the fact that it depicts immensely socio-political changes happening from time to time in Kashmir. Many artists say that it is possible to create a new folk form that retains the authenticity of tradition, yet emanates the flavour of experimentation.
