‘Gandhi Tum Zinda Ho’ play mesmerizes Delhi audience

New Delhi: Popular Delhi theatre group, The Thespian Society staged a play - ‘Gandhi Tum Zinda Ho’- at New Delhi’s Talkatora Garden on Sunday.

Directed by well-known theatre personality Raj Upadhyay, the play blended chapters from history, the partition of India to the Babri Masjid demolition, and focused on Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence and harmony. The play tracked the life of Pandey, a follower of Gandhi, from 1947 to the latter half of the century. He loses his son Suraj in riots and is advised by Gandhi to adopt and raise Aftab, a Muslim boy orphaned in the communal clashes. What follows is a lesson in harmony, of breaking free of the deep-rooted shackles set by caste and religion and discovering and living by the virtues of humanism. The play moved all those present. “This play...it helps to realize that Gandhi’s philosophy is still awake. We as young people can make Gandhiji ideal. And working together in this group, it helped me a lot to bring up my personality. So this was an attempt to keep Gandhiji alive,” said Lavanya Bahl, an artist in the play. The play was previously performed by the students of Modern School Barakhamba Road at chief minister Shiela Dixit’s residence and was a huge success. It was even appreciated by Mrs Gursharan Kaur, First Lady of India and Mrs and Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Sunday’s event was marked by the presence of bigwigs like Delhi’s top cop, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court and Union Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. ‘You have just seen through this play that Gandhi is and will always be alive,” said Sibal. The play has been adapted from ‘Gandhi ne kaha tha...’ which expresses the values of humanity adopted by Mahatma Gandhi. “This idea came since I am a strong believer of Gandhi’s ideology. So I was wondering, how could I popularize his ideas…People have tried to do so, by lectures or other mediums, which were not understood much by people. So, I thought that a situation should be made where people understand his principles practically, in the form of a drama or a play,” said Upadhyay. Thespian is one of the most active non-profitable, non-governmental, theatre groups in the country and is completely devoted towards performing art, and providing a platform to young actors. ANI