Sambalpur, April 10: A Sambalpuri play engrossed thousands of people gathered in Sundergarh. The play Maau was staged on Friday and Saturday evening by Navjeevan, a cultural organisation of Sundergarh.

The play depicted how tribal people became victims of the war between Maoists and the state. It illustrated how a tribal village, where people fulfilled their demands from the nature, had lost its identity due to the crisis.

In a false exchange of fire, a handicapped man loses his life and his sister has to fight to exonerate her brother from the charges labelled against him.

To absolve her brother, she agrees to surrender before the inquiry commissioner appointed by the government to investigate into the encounter. But she kills the commissioner instead, who invites her to a bungalow with lecherous intentions.

The atrocity inflicted on her turns her a Maoist but the innocent eyes of her niece Maau brings her to the mainstream.

Drama aficionados had an opportunity to watch this extraordinary play with a fascinating stage arrangement.

“I had heard about the play where 100 artistes were to act together on an 11,000-square feet stage,” said Parimal Panda, who was present in the audience.

“The story touched me. It was beyond my imagination that a play on such a big stage equipped with advanced technology is possible,” said Panda.

“Earlier, I had the opportunity to enjoy the play in a drama competition in Sambalpur. But, then the play was of one hour with just 15 artistes. But now I saw the play in its bigger form,” said Pradeep Behara, a resident of Sambalpur who had been to Sundergarh to watch the play.

“The performance by the actors was stupendous and the direction was awesome,” he added.

“The thrust of the play comes out in the scene when the protagonist realises that violence is not the solution to any problem,” said Narendra Pradhan, an artiste.

“Twenty female artists, seven child artists and 73 male artists performed on stage. There was a 30-member music team for this play which included seven songs,” said Pradeep Bhol, writer and director of the play.

The organisers of the play have applied for an entry into the Limca Book of Records.

Maroof Raza, a representative from the Limca Book of Records, said he was impressed with the act.

“With the special stage and huge number of artistes, the play has every chance to get an entry into the Limca Book of Records,” he said.