One a staunch idealist, Sardar Patel and the other a pragmatist Nehru – both visionaries differed widely in their political outlook and actions, says the play Godhuli, written and directed by NSD alumnus Rajesh D R Bali, staged on 2 October 2024 at Akshara Theatre. The chief guest for the play was Dr Gaurav Pradhan.
The two most prominent personalities caught in the middle of an ideologically driven confrontation are debating Gandhiji’s most important wish. In December 1946, Mountbatten had asked Gandhiji, Bapu, India is about to become independent. The British are about to leave India. What will be the first thing you will do in independent India? The play Godhuli is based on Gandhiji’s statement that he would write his first wish with the first tip of his pen after India became independent. Mountbatten was very surprised to hear this and asked, there are bigger problems in India than this, like poverty, unemployment, hunger, illiteracy, communal riots, and the biggest problem – Pakistan? Gandhiji said, yes, there are, but I will give more priority to this than independence. I believe that this will open the way for solving all the problems of India including independence.
What was his first wish? And why has it not been fulfilled till date? Patel and Nehru are discussing this in this play Godhuli. This is the story of this play. In Godhooli, the director has cleverly tried to say without creating any controversy that the slaughterhouses of his own opinion should be stopped. In this drama, the politics of India has been exposed in a very clear manner without making any distinction between Hindu and Muslim. It is often said that today politics has become dirty, but it is not so at all, politics is politics. Along with this, Patel’s character portrays that, if Patel had become the first Prime Minister of India with his pro-market ideology and better organizational skills, the development of the country as an independent nation would have been completely different.
The play will be staged again on 22 November 2024 at Alliance Francaise De Delhi, later in other auditoriums in Delhi and Mumbai. Sunny Farmah in the role of Patel and Sandeep Nandan in Gandhi impressed the audience. Preeti Gupta played the roles of Mannu, Edwina and Sutradhar very well. The chorus and music also have to be praised. The most impressive thing is that the playwright has said his thing in the context of today. Because all the characters are not alive today, the place is heaven. Light and music have been used along with dialogue to create heaven. The craft of the play also helped in creating heaven. But that heaven could not be created in Akshara theatre. Perhaps the absence of a set could also be a reason. The director says that every time this play is staged, there will be some addition to it. Many changes will be made in the next show as well. For example, the assembly elections are going on in Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir. The results of these will also have an impact on the staging of our play. So what I mean to say is that the script of this play is not a fixed script, it is a script that changes with time. After the play, Dr. Gaurav Pradhan expressed his views about the play, especially on Gandhiji, as that day was 2nd October. He is famous for his outspoken style. He also made a sarcastic remark on Nehru’s costume. Overall, the story and craft of the play is interesting, and compels one to watch it again.
