A moment from the play Beyond the Roots

Beyond the roots, a drama presented by students of Modern College, Imphal, won the best play award at the recently concluded XXI Manipur University Inter-College Youth Festival.

Playwright A. Shyam Singh adapted the play, based on an episode from the life of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, from the original one written by M.C. Arun, titled, Who is Nimai?

The play, set in 17th century, narrates the story of a father and daughter waiting on a riverbank for a boat. Fortunately, a boat comes by and the duo board it.

The boatman, however, fails to take them to the other side, and returns to the starting point.

Waiting on the river bank, the girl hopes that a stranger will come and take her across the water. Around that time,Mahaprabhu reaches the port and takes the father-daughter duo across the river.

Director H. Satananda earned applause for making apt use of the folk elements from Manipur and other states to present a new version of a clichéd subject.

The play portrays a society which refuses to change with the times and tries to chain the people to hackneyed patterns. The play calls for breaking old roots and moving forward towards creating a new social order where human sufferings cease to exist.

The play will represent Manipur University in the zonal inter-university youth festival to be held in Silchar in December. The students hope to catch the notice of the judges by being at their best.