Tube Well brings alive Tarai life

Kathmandu, July 18

While the victims of loan sharks from southern Tarai have been agitating in the Capital demanding that the government should save their property illegally captured by the loan sharks, Purano Ghar Theatre in Sinamangal is staging a play Tube Well with an identical theme where a feudal lord in collusion with his henchmen plays foul with farmers in his village.

Hariya is an illiterate farmer in a village, apparently from Bara/Parsa district, according to the writer and director of the play, Rosan Subedi, who is living by ploughing his field. But lack of irrigation is troubling him and his neighbours in the village as they were unable to grow enough crops to feed their families. One day, a government official,  Lal Bahadur Khadka, comes to the village with a proposal to install a tube well and finds that Hariya's farm is the best for setting up the facility.

However, head of the village, and his henchman Chitta Ranjan, want to install it in the latter's field. Meanwhile, the chief also wants to increase the production and smuggling of cannabis in the field. Their collusion creates multiple turns in the story. The play not only presents the traditional 'lenders' who are still active in the Tearai but also the rampant corruption in government agencies.

Rajib Chaudhary, Nisha Dahal, Shrawan Yadav, Arbind Kumar Mourya, Rohit Rajak, Kundan and Bhuwan Luhar have given some of the finest theatrical performances.

As director Subedi said, the drama could be a representative case of the Tarai, especially the Madhes Province. It takes the audience directly to a Tarai village with a traditional house where Hariya with his wife Munni, friend Nandan, and nephew Mangala is living a good life. For the people who haven't experienced life in the Tarai, this play presents a taste of it in the Capital.

The play is presented in Bhojpuri language which also could be a new taste for the audience here. Produces of the play have minutely worked in the stage design, costume, music and other ambiences to offer a real taste of life in a Tarai village about three decades ago.

The director of the play has woven the story like a cinema and creates multiple twists in the story which leaves a thrilling impression on the part of audience. In addition to it, he has presented multiple activities on the stage as it happens at the village centre. The spectator is instantly taken there.

Playback music is another strong part of the play. Singer Januka Nepal and musicians Sharad Rai, Dipesh Rai and Rajkamal Fakir mesmerise with their live melodies throughout the drama. Januka's voice sounds perfectly a Madhesi one. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 July 2023.