Artistes stage the play Gawah at Renaissance in Gaya on Sunday. Picture by Suman

Gaya, Sept. 19: A three-day-long cultural festival organised by Renaissance, began in Gaya on Saturday evening.

Rennaissance is a cultural centre established by fiction writer-cum-producer, Sanjay Sahay for the protection and promotion of performing arts. On the inaugural evening, Gaya artistes belonging to Renaissance presented “Gawah”, the Hindi version of “Witness for Prosecution”, a mystery tale by Agatha Christie. Fiction writer and Katha award winner Sahay has made the Hindi adaptation and has written the script of the play. The play focussed on the inadequacies of the justice delivery system based on evidence of questionable credibility. The inadequacies were brought into focus through a courtroom drama.

The artistes included Shivangi, the lovelorn girl planning the acquittal of her boyfriend, Hasrat Pathan, the defence lawyer, Rajindra Sharma in the role of the judge, Kashif Khan, the murderer and Vipin Bihari the outwitted defence lawyer captivated a fullhouse audience at the Dayanand Sushila Sahay Sanskritik Kendra auditorium.

The drama ends on a somewhat anti-climactic note with an almost certain conviction converted into an “honourable acquittal”. The girlfriend of an unscrupulous murderer who first pretended to be in love with a rich lady and later killed her after getting a will executed in his favour, schemes her boyfriend’s acquittal and gets it, thanks to a fabricated evidence, which is the turning point of the play.

OM'S THE WORD: Actor Om Puri and Seema Kapoor (extreme right) with artistes at Renaissance theatre in Gaya on Sunday. Picture by Suman

Deftly playing a double game in the court room, the girl, as a prosecution witness, makes an incriminating statement against her boyfriend and testifies his (her boyfriend’s) involvement in a case having no eyewitness, relying only on circumstantial evidence titled almost decisively against the accused.

Virtually taking the evidence-centric justice delivery system for a ride, the girl fabricates evidence in the form of a few love letters narrating a concocted story of the cold-blooded murder to prove the boy’s innocence. In the bargain, the adventurous girl risks a one-year’s imprisonment to save her boyfriend from the gallows, a profitable bargain from her point of view. Apart from its serious commentary on the system of justice, the play successfully captures the attention of the viewers throughout the 80-minute drama through some courtroom comedy played by Manu Mani, the junior lawyer. Briefly addressing the artistes, veteran actor Om Puri lauded the zeal and enthusiasm of the Gaya culture lovers and theatre artistes who, according to Puri, deserve kudos for making the right entry into the world of theatre. Encouraging the local artistes, Puri said that he (Puri) too began his career the way these young Gaya artistes have done.

Om Puri’s former wife and director Seema Kapoor whose film “Haat, the weekly bazar” is to be screened during the festival, lauded the efforts of Sanjay Sahay in promoting culture in a big way in a small town like Gaya.