‘Madhusudan Nanda – Bayas 78’ touches soul and senses of audience

By A K Sahu/Swagatika Bhutia

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 19: Madhusudan Nanda – Bayas 78 (Madhusudan Nanda – Aged 78 years), a social play based on the contemporary theme of neglect of aged parents by their well-placed children stole hearts of theatres lovers as they watched it being enacted at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar, on Monday evening.

The artistes of Mukti, a famed theatre group headed by Silabhadra Sastri, flawlessly portrayed the characters of the play written by Odisha’s well-known journalist, novelist, poet and columnist Sriram Dash.

The story revolves round primary school teacher Madhusudan Nanda (Susanta Routray) and his devout wife Sabitri (Priyanka Priyadarshini) who made no negligence in bringing up their son Ramesh Nanda (Soumya Ranjan) with all virtues and righteousness. The son becomes and Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer; gets married to Punjabi IAS officer (Tilottama Sahoo) and lives with children in his official bungalow in state capital Bhubaneswar.

The teacher, after losing his wife, visits to his son’s place with a lot of hope to spend some quality time with his son, daughter-in-law and grand children. However, all his hopes dashes against despair as he finds himself amidst countless restrictions. He is denied to mingle with the servants or people coming to meet his son to air their grievances. “You are not an ordinary person…you are father of a Saheb (top officer). And, you must not lower your dignity by interacting with them,” he is told.

With no one around to share his agony, the teacher daily slips into a local temple where he interacts with a scribe.

‘I feel I’m a caged living being here like the pets of my son. They are busy in their own world and have no time for me. I’m seen as an outdated and obsolete soul,” he shares with the scribe to give vent to his suppressed his anguish and torments.   

One-day, the teacher leaves for his home without intimating his son. On the way, he dies in a road accident. A letter addressed to his son is found from his pocket. In the letter, the father mentions his mental trauma and but does not falter in showering his love and affection for him and children.

The IAS officer son cries in silence…but no one is around to see the remorse he found himself caught in.

Directed by the Surya Mohanty, an alumni of National School of Drama, New Delhi, the play touched the soul and senses of audience by astute performances by artistes like Akash Behura, Durgesh Nayak, Ashok Samrat, Deepak Maharana, Priti Dehery, Susant Routray, Niranjan Baba, Priyanka Priyadarshini, Soumya Ranjan and Tilottama Sahu.

“It was delightful evening, sweetly laced with the pre-winter charming breeze, a perfectly suiting for hangout to relax and have a break for the hustle and bustle of day-to-day busy life. T