From Darkness to Hope: Balwant Thakur’s ‘AAG’ Chronicles the Journey against Drug Abuse
Jammu, 28th May, 2023 : Balwant Thakur’s Hindi play ‘AAG’ staged here today under Natrang’s weekly theatre series ‘Sunday Theatre’ at Nagrota Park, Jammu under the direction of Neeraj Kant. The play showcases how the Drug-menace is ruining the generations and thus crippling developing nations. The youth of the country, the most energetic human resource of the country, sometimes unknowingly slip into the world of drug addicts.
The play was not based on one storyline but as an experiment multiple stories were woven by the playwright in one theme focusing the spread of the drug menace like a fire, taking a toll of the important workforce of the country. In a sequence, a young boy is shown struggling for good company after his passing of school and entry in college. He is isolated for not being the consumer of intoxication. All around him treat him like a child which really frustrates him and to prove that he has grown up as a young man now, he finds the easiest way and demonstrates his coming of age by consuming a variety of intoxications. In another sequence a rural inhabitation particularly the men-folk is shown drowned in the menace of alcohol. All the miseries of the village like poverty, domestic violence, and ailments are attributed to the growing consumption of alcohol in the village. In a sequence, the daily routine of a villager is shown who consumes the whole of his daily earnings for alcohol. Having drunk he has lost his way home. By the time a local escorts him to his place where in the middle of the night the drunken man starts beating his sleeping wife and kids for not receiving him on his arrival. When the escort intervenes to save the poor lady and children, he is blamed for having bad intentions toward his wife. This fight further messes up when a drunken man after losing his senses damages his household property as well. The play unfolds a series of incidents where people influenced by drugs, alcohol and other intoxications create hell for themselves as well as for others. Many precious lives are being charred in this fire of drug menace which is to be fought unitedly. Through this play, Balwant Thakur has tried to make an appeal to save mankind from this dragon.
Actors who outshined in their respective performances and left an impact of their acting included Neeraj Kant, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Mihir Gujral, Sumit Bandaral, Kananpreet Kaur, Abhimanyu Choudhary, Aadesh Dhar and Sheryaar Salaria. The show was coordinated by Mohd. Yaseen.
