In its pledge to come up with a play every Sunday since last 20 years, Natrang today presented a hard hitting new Hindi play ‘Ghotaala’ written and directed by Neeraj Kant here at Nagrota Municipal Park, Jammu. This play was about the viewpoint of the youth today about growing menace of corruption in the society particularly in the government system which is crippling its development and growth.
The play opens with the aggression of the frustrated youth who are breathing in the polluted air of corruption, scandals and dishonesty. Then they hold the common people responsible for this corruption and say that corruption is spread by vested elements who have the patronage of those at the helm of affairs. And in this democratic setup , the general public is completely responsible for bringing corrupt to power. In this way, full participation of the common people is directly ensured in this corrupt system. Following this the play showed how corruption gets originated in the society and system. In a sequence a street fruit seller becomes a victim of the corrupt guardians of the system and the prices in the markets increase and the general public bears the burden.
Then, by mentioning the different side effects of corruption, it is shown how it affects the common people and the progress of the country. There are no strict rules to stop corruption. The courage of corrupt people is being empowered and strengthened day by day thus resulting into rapid growth in number of scams.
In an another scene it was told that due to corruption, educated youth are not getting employment and those who are not capable are getting jobs by paying bribes. Some people get admission in professional colleges by paying bribes and students who have obtained good marks remain without admission, due to which they become victims of disappointment. In this way they feel cheated and in this situation they may be inclined towards anarchist tendencies. In such a situation, instead of helping in the progress of the country, they may get involved in spreading anarchy.
Due to needy youth not getting employment, it creates unrest in the society and those youth can get involved in any anti-social activity. Therefore, anti-social elements promoting corruption should not be encouraged. Those who spread corruption should be tightened by implementing strict legal system.
Furthermore again in an another scene,it is told that Tatkal tickets are not available to common passengers for train travel. But due to collusion with the officials, middlemen indulge in black marketing and get huge profits by purchasing tickets and selling them at higher prices. A passenger who is a victim of this fraud takes alertness and informs the Vigilance Department and gets the officer in charge arrested. In this way the solution to the problem is also given.
In one another the leader is luring the general public by distributing gifts during elections. The officer involved in all this gets his son admitted in college with the money he gets through bribery. But his son, to teach his father a lesson, steals in his own house. A police officer does not file a theft report without a bribe. Thus, he realises the fate of a person having no money to pay as bribe. Upon realizing this, the father takes a pledge that he will neither take nor give bribe in future. And the play ends with this message that they would say no to corruption and commit to the Nation.
Natrang young artists who performed in the play included Abhimanyu Choudhary, Aadesh Dhar, Kushal Bhat, Chaitanya Shekhar, Vishal Sharma, Sanket Bhagat and Sumit Bandaral. The show was coordinated by Mohd. Yaseen.