Lucknow: The fifth day of Bhartendu Natya Akademi’s golden jubilee celebrations witnessed auditoriums packed beyond capacity to watch two renowned plays.The first play was Vijay Tendulkar’s ‘Massage’, directed by Harbansh Singh Bisht and staged by Prateek Arts Theatre, Mumbai.The two-act monologue saw actor Rakesh Bedi slipping into multiple roles as he narrated the journey of Happy Kumar, a man who enters the film industry dreaming of becoming an actor but ends up as a fourth assistant director.Disillusioned by failure, he left the industry and later worked as a trainer in a women’s gym. In the end, he ultimately achieved nothing but found solace in the fact that he managed to spread happiness among others.The audience also watched ‘Budhi Kaki’, based on Munshi Premchand’s story and directed by Abhishek Pandit. Staged by Sutradharr, Azamgarh, the play narrates the story that exposes the apathy of society towards elderly relatives, focusing on selfish relationships and the loss of dignity in old age.The last performance was a semiclassical recital by artist Sucharita Dasgupta, who sang ‘jamuna jal bhari aaun’, ‘nayi jhulni ki chhahiya duphariya’ and ‘hamri atariya pe aja re savariya’.
