06-08-2023 : Natrang presented ‘Papa Jab Bachhe Thhey , a new play in Hindi in its weekly theatre series, Sunday Theatre today at its Studio Theatre here in Kachi Chawni, Jammu. Based on a short story of Russian writer and poet Alexander Raskin “When Daddy Was A Little Boy”, the play was adapted and directed by Neeraj Kant. The publicity of the play was designed by Vanshika Pandoh. It is often hard for children to think of their Daddy as a ‘little boy’. A daughter discovered that her Daddy was once upon a time a little boy when she fell ill and her Daddy told her a story about himself when he was her age.
In this story of Alexander Raskin, human thinking and its changing thoughts have been depicted. That is, the importance of humanity has been told.
The play begins where a daughter is seen narrating the story of her father and the actors acting out, in which a child is asked what he wants to be when he grows up. The answer is that he wants to become a watchman. One day while eating ice cream in the market, the idea of becoming an ice cream seller comes in the child’s mind. Then another day the idea of becoming a shunting man at the railway station comes, and the next day the child wants to become a pilot and then the idea of becoming an actor comes while watching a film, the next day he wants to become a shepherd and run after the cows. Everyone laughs at him after listening to his changing thoughts. But the idea of becoming a dog makes him sit down by the side of his pet dog to learn how to scratch the ear with his foot. Then on being asked by a soldier, he tells that he is learning to be a dog because he has been living as a human for a long time and now wants to become a dog. When asked by the soldier whether he knows what a human is, he says no. After not getting any answer from the soldier, he understands that he cannot change his mind everyday and also realises that the first thing he wants to be is a human being.
Natrang young artists who performed in the play included Sanket Bhagat, Abir Beri, Advik Sharma, Mehak Chib, Sanchi Dutta, Sonali Sharma and Priyal Gupta. The publicity of the play was designed by Vanshika Pandoh. Lights of the play were designed and executed by Neeraj Kant whereas the music of the play was rendered by Chirag Anand. The presentations were done by Brijesh Avtar Sharma and the show was coordinated by Mohd. Yaseen.