‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’ Staged By San Francisco Bay Area Drama Company Naatak is a Resounding Success
- I wish I could bestow awards on Naatak’s version of the story because the local production of “The Chess Players” is an enchanting mix of rich cultural themes and Shakespearian twists and turns.
I am a great fan of Munshi Prem Chand’s short story “Shatranj Ke Khiladi” from 1924. It is a great Indian classic and I was fortunate to be introduced to the erudite Prem Chand and other Indian literary stalwarts like Sumitra Nandan Pant, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala and Mahadevi Varma. It was a lucky day for me to see the live adaptation of “Shatranj Ke Khiladi” by the talented Ritwik Verma and Anush Moorthy and the entire cast at the Cubberley Theater, 4120 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.
It was a dream come true. I remember being cast as Wajid Ali Shah’s mother in the same play in school who plans to make the journey to England to take up Wajid Ali Shah’s plight with Queen Victoria herself. I was tickled pink to share the experience of this masterpiece with my daughter in the audience today in California after so many years! I enjoyed giving her a brief history lesson on our drive back home after the play. She was very impressed with this Broadway-style rendering by local artists.
The Naatak actors were in great form, and they recreated the sense of the bygone Nawabi era with great aplomb. Not only were their dialogues, gestures, and Urdu poetry realistic but no stone was left unturned in recreating the mood of 19th-century Lucknow with authentic costumes (elaborate angarkhas and voluminous shararas, silk topis, jamawar shawls. The “comedy” in actuality is a poignant satire on the lives of the “lotus eaters” of Avadh in Central North India in 1856. The last independently ruling Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his elitist noblemen were immersed in hedonistic pleasures in the city of Lucknow. Wajid Ali, an enthusiastic proponent of poetry, music, and kathak was a curious character.
The “comedy” in actuality is a poignant satire on the lives of the “lotus eaters” of Avadh in Central North India in 1856.
It seemed to Lord Dalhousie and his British officers that he was aimlessly immersed in his Krishna Raas Leela style dance dramas because he was ignorant of the affairs of the state and unable to govern his kingdom adequately. So they used a falsified report to annex his throne. But actually, Wajid Ali was a deep thinker, he loved his kingdom and he knew that his people loved him. The reason he did not even voice a vociferous response when his beloved kingdom of Avadh was annexed by the scheming British East India Company was that he was averse to bloodshed.
Naatak’s actor who played Wajid Ali Shah, was so wonderful that for a moment he made me forget the talented Amjad Khan in Satyajit’s film of the same name. Also, the actors who played the two lazy aristocrats addicted to the game of chess: Mirza Sajjad Ali (originally played by Sanjeev Kumar — I can’t forget his loud guffaws) and his friend Mir Raushan Ali (played by Saeed Jaffrey, an expert in the art of repartee) are simply superb. They skillfully kept the audience engaged by playing chess from morning to night, in happy times, at home, at a funeral, in an abandoned masjid, and even when their king was held captive in front of their eyes. They ate, slept and dreamt and even ate the pieces of chess. Abandoning their domestic duties, and forgoing their wives, lost forever figuring out new strategies, or “kisht” as they called them. They challenged, and ridiculed each other and even had a perilous sword fight when their prowess of the game was questioned.
As I go to sleep, I sing the thumri written by Wajid Ali Shah which was sung by Kundan Lal Saigal in Raag Bhairavi “Babul Mora Naihar Chooto jai.” It is a sad metaphor for the King leaving his kingdom akin to the bride leaving her father’s house during his exile from his favorite Kaisarbagh Baradari in Lucknow. The story is indeed Premchand’s masterpiece. He is expertly infused with poetry, emotion, local language, and humor, and showcases the fierce yet comedic rivalry between two unforgettable fictional characters as they strived to outwit each other on the chessboard. I
n 1977, Satyajit Ray’s film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. I wish I could bequeath awards on Naatak’s version of the story because the local production of “The Chess Players” is an enchanting mix of rich cultural themes and Shakespearian twists and turns. It is simply amazing! The play has been sold out since the last opening weekend. The last show was on June 18, I am sure the actors, singers and dancers are going to bring the house down.
With one foot in Huntsville, Alabama, the other in her birth home India and a heart steeped in humanity, writing is a contemplative practice for Monita Soni. She has published hundreds of poems, movie reviews, book critiques, and essays and contributed to combined literary works. Her two books are My Light Reflections and Flow through My Heart. You can hear her commentaries on Sundial Writers Corner WLRH 89.3FM.