"MANODASHA"
Frankly speaking, I am not a playwright nor I have any sort of knowledge of writing for plays and I haven’t even got a chance to watch one. However, still, I am here to describe about one of the finest plays in the history of theater. It’s called “Manodasha” that was held at Pearey Lal Bhavan, New Delhi on 7th April 2007. The play has been organized by “Amazing thoughts” theater group and it has been directed by Abhineshwar Dayal Saxena or “Abhi Da” as he is well known by his students.
Manodasha is a beautiful way to explain the mystery of life, which gives you a walkthrough of various events that have occurred in life i.e. from one destruction to another. Manodasha reflects the social & political philosophy of various eras. It starts when the universe originated where every human being has only the natures’ wealth in hand. It then goes ahead to describe that the times have changed since then, and in the modern society, also called “KALYUG” man has bought changes to not only the lifestyle but also the thinking have changed altogether. The modern times has given rise to casts, ravenousness, and egoistic attitude. Manodasha tries to explain that the human being have become obsessed to the raced to the power, and have bought a false belief to become an almighty. This has led to jealousy, enmity, and hostility that is a step further to the destruction of mankind.
In the hunger to win the race of authority, the human being has started to act like a God. Today, the humans possess nuclear weapons which have brought the world at the edge of the cliff. In addition, it is highly probable that the race to acquire these weapons will bring destruction. The humanity will face its devastation from the world and will turn our earth into desert symbolizing the death of mankind.
This play brings in light to the manipulation of the system by the power and the acceptance of such values & system by the society. It has throttled the lives of human beings. This play explains that how a human being tries to fight against the evil does of the socio-political equation but is handicapped with its own problems of livelihood. It explains how the human being in turn struggles for existence on this earth, and in turn has become a victim of cast, greed, and ego. However, this play doesn’t depict any particular era as a whole. It tries to tell different stories that have occurred in various eras in order to reflect the equation of state of human being’s mind.
MANODASHA has been staged many times since 1980. It was staged three times at the Motilal University and then in Bhavana Kala Mandir. In addition, it was staged six times in the Indian Youth festival at Maulana Azad College, where it was chosen as the best original script.
