Mohan se Mahatma

Our social, cultural and economic structure is tangled with the political attributes of our country for decades now. The richness of Indian history lies in its complexity, diversity and extraordinary facets. Going through the pages of these facets makes an individual recognise and comprehend the present day scenario as historian William Dalrymple says, “India has always had a strange way with her conquerors. In defeat, she beckons them in, then slowly seduces, assimilates and transforms them”. The Indian Independence Movement encloses numerous activates and ideas to end the British Raj. The knowledge of the past takes an individual to a journey of growth, birth of equality, social justice and democracy.

A visual representation of the past through theatre or live enactment, is a convenient and convincing way to uphold the historical events for the lovers of history as the scene of the play Mohan Se Mahatma starts with the sound of the irregular clatter and jangle of the iron tracks and the metal wheels of a train and three widows clad in spotless white, sit in a group combing each other’s hair and discussing in Bhojpuri about Mohan Babu stay in South Africa. The director of the play Mohan Se Mahatma, Dr.M Sayeed Alam says that he wanted to “re-introduce middle aged Gandhi as not much people are aware of his contributions and achievement in his middle age.Infact the Champaran Satyagraha Movement of Bihar had transformed Gandhi ji, and he got introduced to rural India. The problem of the masses are altogether different from the elites who were heading the freedom movement, in this scenario Gandhi ji thought until and unless the masses are involved , it cannot be a movement .The Champaran episode played a very important role here. He knew South Africa, Bombay (now Mumbai), Gujarat but he did not know the rest of India. So, I wanted to re-creates the Champaran Satyagrah movement of 1917 which is one of the major event of the Indian Independence”

Mohan Se Mahatma is the Pierrot's Troupe's latest play featuring Tom Alter, Dr. M. Sayeed Alam, Yashraj Malik, Manish Singh, Jaskiran Chopra, Ayman Ansari, Gaurang Mohan, Rajesh Kumar, Sahir Dagar, Pawnesh Kumar, Asutosh Kumar, Laxmi Rawat, Saman Salman, Sahil Jain, Aryan Pratap, Hemant Bhisht , directed by Dr.M Sayeed Alam and script written by Dr.M Sayeed Alam and Vibhav Srivastava.

The Champaran Satyagrah movement of 1917   was initiated for the Indigo farmers in Champaran District of Bihar a large number of farmers were compelled to cultivate indigo on a portion of their land and it was a condition of tenancy for their lands. This less the farmers to huge loses. This is also known to be the first political action that Gandhi ji led in India.

A beautiful dialogue of Gandhi in the play was Main jab 1915 me jab Hindustan wapas aye to mera swagat Mr Jinnah ne kiya tha. Mujhe is baat ka baada garv tha ki ek Hindu Gujarati ka swagat ek Muslim Guajarati ni kya .Champaran me mujhe kahin Hindu – Muslim ka bhed kahin nazar hi nahi aya. Champaran ne mujhe Hindustani bana diya”. Further, in the concluding scene of a gather mass putting ahead their complains to Gandhi ji, a dialogue by an angry, agitated young boy amidst the crowd sketches the socio- political scenario today .He says, “hume kewal apse shikayat hai ,bapu ye angreej toh ek na ek din chala jayega par ap bada bada neta log toh yahin rahega na. Neela jayega , peela ajayega, gore angreejo ka raj khatam hoga, kale angreejo ka raj shuru ho jayega”. He also adds “fir ap log humbe zulum zabardasti karega.tin kathiya khatam ho jayega to kya gareebi bhi khatam ho jayega, bimari bhi khatam ho jayega, gandagi bhi khatam ho jayega , ane wale 100 saal tak khatam nahi hoga”. On asking about the relevance of Gandhi ji’s relevance in today’s scenario, Dr.Sayeed Alam further says, “I think if his philosophy of non-violence is followed almost half of the problem will be solved. Let us follow Gandhi ji’s philosophy of non-violence, let’s protest, lets fight but let’s do everything without using violence, whatever we should do it should be non-violent .that is Ghandhi ji’s philosophy  and quite relevant in today’s scenario “

The character portrayals illustrated the significance of each and every popular names of associated with the movement and dialogue through mapped the language of the specific regions. The entire play is a narration by Gandhi ji at his old age portrayed by actor Tom Alter, when he sits to write his biography. As Dr.Alam himself plays the role of middle aged Gandhi, on asking what made him take up the role of Gandhi, he says, “I have played many historical characters and I love to play historical characters. Till now I have played Urdu centric characters but never played Gandhiji’s character and also my age now and Gandhi ji’s age represented in the play are the same. So I decided to take up this character”.

The play yet again concludes with the sound of the irregular clatter and jangle of the iron tracks and the metal wheels of a train taking us through a journey of the entire Champaran Satyagraha Movement of Bihar crafted and created elegantly with perfect depiction of 1917.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/vivacity/the-transition-to-bapu.html