The drama Mun Hajichhi being staged at Nataka Parikrama in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, May 5: Mun Hajichhi, a play staged yesterday evening at the Nataka Parikrama theatre festival by Uttarapurusha theatre troupe at Rabindra Mandap, was a touching illustration of life. Right from the script to the execution, the audience loved every bit of the play.

Written by Prasanna Das and directed by Prasanna Mishra, the play depicts the irony of life in an innovative way, just like the title of the play, which means: “I am lost”.

The play dwells on the philosophical aspects of life through a love story with an unusual conclusion. The plot depicts that the search for happiness and contentment is a universal truth for all human beings. But when the search ends, the situation is back to square one – losing many things in the process of the search, including oneself, again leading to the pursuit of happiness.

The protagonist of the story, Gautam, had always aspired for a happy and simple life. He was also quite content with the state of affairs until he comes in touch with Priti, who charms him.

Gautam, deeply in love with her, wishes to get married to her and tries out various ways to achieve his aim. Finally, when he attains her after overcoming all obstacles, he finds that he has lost himself. He discovers that in the process of getting his love, he has changed from a simple man to a dishonest person.

The journey of the change of character of a person due to his aspirations has been brought out in the play very well. The artistes use subtle expressions and the dialogues make the viewers think. Asim Basu’s stage craft was, as always, an added attraction. Viewers were gripped in this tale of introspection.

“It was an absorbing story and the situations of the characters, specially that of Gautam, resembles most of us who go beyond their moral boundaries to obtain what we want,” said Krsuhnachandra Patnaik, who came to see the performance.

Director Mishra said that the team had experimented with the presentation of the play. “We tried out to bring out on stage, the communication of a man with his soul. The design of the plot was also experimental and we are delighted that the viewers appreciated it,” he said.