INDIAN PEOPLE'S THEATRE ASSOCIATION

Girija Ke Sapne is a musical satire, at times hilariously funny and at times ridiculous, with shades of pathos. It makes use of television and advertising lingo as a theatrical device including the now popular trend of Hinglish. The protagonist Girija is the only educated girl in her village - ‘10th class fail’. She dreams of the kind of life-style she has seen in the touring talkies. Her small town aspirations based on her exposure to films and advertising are personified in the character of her ‘hero’. She is so enamored of her ‘hero’ that the dialogues he delivers in his films are the only truth she believes in. The make- believe world of her dreams is her reality, which is completely at odds with her family and her village. The clash between her dreams and reality is the essence of the play. The choir is a central part of the play representing different characters. Though the story is set in a village in north Karnataka, the production uses music in a stylized manner and not in a dialect or a particular folk form specific to any part of the country.

 

The play is a comment on the influence of globalization and the now ever-popular trend of bank loans that has swept through rural and urban India. The common man is victimized by the system and ends up paying back the loans with his life because he has no way out. Farmers in India are being trapped by the vision of quick money and ‘modern’ farming. They are being made to give up their traditional eco-friendly methods and adopt new methods which require more water, more pesticides, growth controllers, fertilizers, etc. And if this was not enough, they are forced to use non-renewable seeds. These new methods have totally changed the agriculture patterns in India. At the end of it, the maximum benefits go to the MNCs and big farmers and corporations in India. The farmer continues to be the lowest common denominator….and very often not even that because he has been wiped out by the system.

 

The need of the hour is a more people-friendly, farmer-friendly system - ecological agriculture based on biodiversity for economic and food security. Food and agriculture must become more socially and ecologically sustainable, more accessible, and food quality, food safety, and public health must be put above corporate profits.

 

Girija Ke Sapne premiered at the Prithvi Theatre Mumbai Musicals festival at Mumbai in 2007 and has also been performed at the Rashtriya Natya Mahotsav at Lucknow in 2008, Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival at Hyderabad in Oct 2008, at Rangashankara Bangalore in Nov 2008 and Bahuroopi National

 

Theatre Festival at Rangayana Mysore in Dec 2008. In 2009 it was staged at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav at NSD New Delhi and Lucknow.

 

Cast & Credits

 

Ruchi Sharma/ Mithila Lad, Dhanraj Pawar/ Ronak Kitta, Neeraj Pandey, Manju Sharma, Vikas Yadav, Ranjana Srivastav, Almas/ Nupoor Sinha, Nishu,/ Avinash, Awesh Siddiqui/Rohit Chaudry & others

Musicians: Ravinder Kumar, Kishore Belbansi, Nilesh Gajbhiye.

Chorus Singers: Dhanraj Pawar, Anagh Banerjee, Manmeet Singh, Deepak Seth, Vikas Rawat, Shoumita Das, Ayesha Khan