Balwant Thakur doesn’t have many prerequisites for staging a play. His acts are mobile & flexibleHe's driven by challenges and creativity. So, even an assigned project is turned into a work of art. That’s how Sainyan Bhaye Kotwal, the final play of the National Theatre Festival took shape. The play has been staged all over the country by various directors, and theatre director Balwant Thakur took it up for it was different from the productions his group Natrang had been staging. “I prefer to call it a satire rather than a comedy, one that’s a symbolic picture of the contemporary political happenings and a caricature of the bad governance has been depicted in the play. The theme is contemporary and relevant to any part of the world,’’ Thakur’s production has his signature style and he’s made a few changes in the script and updated it as well. Balwant is happy that the audiences have received it really well. What’s best, the production is mobile, sans many frills, so it can be taken anywhere, “and also staged in a huge theatre, street or a small space. It’s versatile and in my opinion, theatre has to be flexible, so it can reach out to more people, that’s the entire idea. That’s why when we travel with our plays, my requirements are negligible. We make sure we are self-sufficient in every way.’’ Natrang, as a theatre group primarily practices Dogri theatre rooted in the soil of Jammu and Thakur’s plays are replete with culture, tradition, music, folklore of the region. Thakur never tires of exploring the culturally rich area which is in a constant state of strife, “the situation is absurd here, there are many stakeholders, aspects and we are complicating matters,’’ Thakur is busy writing a book, the Origin and Development of Dogri Theatre. The unknown aspects of Dogri theatre, the contributors, the rich culture and heritage, I hope to document all that and more.’’
