1997

Cast :	Arvind	Sharad Gupta	(B.E. IV Indl)
	Leela	Gunjan	(M. Sc II)
	Yadoo	Anindo Mukherjee	(B.E II CST)
	Vimalendu	Jeetesh	(B.E III Civil)
	President	Madhukar	(B.E III Indl)
	Principal	Dhananjay	(B.E II Indl)
	Chandu	Vishal Chaddha	(B.E II E&C)
	Anuradha	Sujata	(B.E II E&C)
	Dronacharya	Vinay	(B.E II Meta)
	Kripi	Tulika	(B.Arch.II)
	Ashwathama	Mayank	(B.Arch. III)
	Arjun	Anindo Mukherjee	(B.E II CST)
	Eklavya	Vishal Chaddha	(B.E II E&C)
	Yudhishthir	Vishal Chaddha	(B.E II E&C)
	Bheeshm	Amit Bhagchandani	(B.Arch III)
	Sainik	Anindo Mukherjee	(B.E IInd CST)
	Judje(Ist voice)	Mayank	(B.Arch III)
	Judge(IInd voice)	Dhananjay	(B.E IInd Indl)

Ek Aur Dronacharya penned by Shankar Shesh is a realistic, hard hitting play. It deals with the part played by politics, power and other things in our educational system. It deals with the degradation of our courage to stand up for some cause. It sheds light on the character of Dron as a human being, as a teacher, as a person.

In the play two stories running parallel are interwoven together. One is of Arvind, a very honest, high principled professor. Rajkumar, son of a college president, is caught red handed by Arvind while cheating during exam but under pressure from his wife Leela, his friend Yadoo and the president, he buckles up and becomes the college principal in return of not sending Rajkumar's report to the University. Chandu, another student of the college is hell bent on getting Rajkumar punished due to the injustice done to him by the president. Once again Arvind could not get Rajkumar punished for the rape attempt on Anuradha- a girl student of the same college. Anuradha is killed in an accident that is preplanned. He feels guilty for that but does nothing to save her. People had high expectations from him but he lets them down. He could not get justice for Chandu, Anuradha and get Rajkumar punished even though he wanted to do that. In taking every decision Arvind is helped by the spirit of his friend and colleague Vimalendu, who was just like himself but death had changed him a lot.

Dronacharya accepted to teach Kauravs and Pandavas to do away his poverty and to take revenge from Drupad for insulting him. Dron did injustice to Eklavya by asking for his thumb and to Karna by not accepting him as his pupil under the so called Varna system (caste system). While Draupadi was being insulted by the Kauravas he did nothing to save her or protect her from humiliation. His wife Kripi and son Ashwathama had great influence on him.Kripi had a negative one.She always complained about their poverty so Dron had to accept the job of being the teacher of the royal sons or Rajkumars. He had a feeling of guilt of what he had done and what he could not do.

The two stories are of quite similiar nature. After a course of some dramatic events the president of the college dies and Arvind is accused of his murder and Chandu is the only witness. During the court scene, Chandu behaves in exactly the same manner as Yudhishter in the battlefield. When Dron asks him whether Ashathama- his son or the elephant had died he replies Ashathama has died but adds in a very slow tone that he does not know whether it is the elephant. In the same way Chandu tells the truth, not the whole truth but only what was asked from him.

Besides being teachers, Arvind and Dron had a lot in common. Both promised many big things but none fulfilled them. Both were high principled but when it came to real life they both became self centered. The author has correctly pointed out that Arvind and people like him are Dronacharyas.

1. Begane aise aate hain,
     Na jaane kaise jaate hain,
     Jaise chalte ko bhi anjane rasta dikhlate hain,
     Begane aise aata hain,
     Na jaane kaise jaate hain,
     Jaise abhimani ko mastane darpan dikhlaate hain,
     Begane aise aate hain,
     Na jaane kaise jaate hain

Cast :	Mr. Sharma	Jeetesh Srivastava	(B.E. III Civil)
	Sujata	Rashmi tripathi	(B.E III E&C)
	Mr. Mathur	Amit Bhagchandani	(B. Arch. III)
	Manas	Manish Rai	(B.E IV Mech.)
	Gunjan	Tulika Majumdar	(B. Arch II)
	Shantanu	Anindo Mukherjee	(B.E II Cst)
	Lalita	Sangita	(M.Sc I)
	Goayl	Nitin Girotra	(B.E I Ind)
	Kirti	Vidhi Agarwal	(B. Arch. I)

Starting with the every minute flaring up discussion among two men and a woman on the issue whether the death of a person was a murder or suicide and unable to do so they finally gave up the attempt and come up with two different stories to leave it for the audience to decide and solve the confusion.

The first story is of a middle class employee, Mr. Sharma engulfed in the everyday problems pertaining to his restrained economic and social life; tries to please his boss Mr. Mathur through his wife Sujata- a well cultured and good looking lady. Mr. Sharma succeeds and is promoted to assistant manager and his wife as personal assistant. Sujata often warns Mr. Sharma about hte indecent proposals of Mr. Mathur but he purposely overlooks the facts and compels her to go on a month long trip to Switzerland with his boss. On returning Sujata concieves but has a miscarriage due to her husband's carelessness. In the end , depressed and dejected , havinng a feeling of losing everything in the game to become 'big', Sujata fails to find the purpose of her life and commits suidide.

The underlying irony of the story is brought before the audience by the inner selves of Sujata and Mr. Sharma personified in the form of Manas and Gunjan who make them aware of the social evil that has crept into the society, how everyone in the rat race of money, status and luxuries of life wants to flourish at the cost of the other and exploits anyone and everyone round him for his own sake, just to rise in society.

The second story is of a scientist Shantanu, who after several years of relentless efforts and innumerable sacrifices of his wife Lalita, finally completes his research and goes for a holiday to Kashmir with his wife. Behind his back Mr. Goyal, the director of his research institiuition decieves him and publishes his work under his own name.The news falls like a bombshell on Shantanu and unable to recover he tries to commit suicide but Lalita stops him and instills in him the courage to kill Mr. Goyal and bring the truth before the world. But this goes all in vain as Mr. Goyal commits suicide and leaves a note in which he writes that the purpose of his life is solved with this outstanding achievement in the field of science which has given him salvation for ever. He also makes provisions for Shantanu to be made the director of the institute after him.

The hidden theme was brought out by the inner selves of Lalita in the form of Manas and 'name amd fame' personified in the name of Kirti often during the play. Manas condemns Lalita for arousing Shantanu for a sinister motive like murder, when everyone in the society is involved in exploiting the one below him. 'Kirti' the most sought after in the present world of materialism signifies the decline of ethics and moral virtues.

These two stories compel the audience to rethink on the path they are treading and inspires them to live their life in the active presence of their conscience.

Cast :	Durjan	Sharad Gupta	(B.E. IV Indl)
	Karmvir	Madhukar Sinha	(B.E. III Indl)
	Satyavir	Vishal Chadha	(B.E. II E&C)
	Aurat	Niharika Singh	(B.Arch II)
	Yuva	Aman Batish	(B.Arch II)
	Gramin-1	Roopesh Nair	(B.E. Civil I)
	Gramin-2	Pankaj Kumar	(B.E. I Indl)
	Sepoy	Dhananjay Singh	(B.E. II Indl)
	Bhishti	Harsh Enkhia	(B.Arch I)

This play censures the contemporary political system and its hypocritic and anti-democratic character. It brings out the bigotry that is imposed by the men in power by the weaker sections of the society. The play highlights the superstitions and the lack of scientific temperament prevalent among the masses and the urgency to eradicate it. It also draws out our attention towards the existing nexus between the criminals and politicians resulting in the criminalisation of politics and the consequent represssion of the masses.

Durjan, Satyavir and Karmvir, the three dacoits acting in collusion with sepoy take away the bakri (goat) from Aurat.She implores to get it back but they refuse to do and incarcerate her for seizing public property. They project the Bakri as Mahatma Gandhi's goat, possessing supernatural powers and insist that it is a harbinger of wealth and prosperity to the villagers and will wipe out the existing famine.The superstitious and illeterate villagers are lured into donating their possesions to the 'Bakri Smarak Nidhi'- the trust founded by the trio.Yuvak comes into the scene and tries to impress upon the villagers the evil intentions of the dacoits. The villagers put in preposterous arguments and turn a blind eye to his suggestoins. Karmvir contests the elections and emerges out victorious by imposing on the villagers the dictum of Bakri to vote for him. In the end the villagers realise their mistake and revolt against the dacoits under the leadership of Yuvak and Vipti.

1. Din mein do roti ke hon jab desh mein lale pade,
     Hon sabhi khamosh sab ki zuban par tale pade,
     Dil dimag aur atma par is kadar jale pade,
     Sukhe ki shatranj neta khelen dil kale pade,
     Tond adial pichke peton par chalaein goliyan,
     Har taraf phir na niklen krantikari toliyan,
     Phir batao kis kadar khamosh baida jaye hai,
     Ab to khaule khoon reh reh kar zaban par aye hai,
     Bahut ho chuka ab hamari hai bari,
     Badal ke rahenge yeh duniya tumhari.

2. Bakri ko kya pata tha,
    Mashak ban ke jeeyegi,
    Bharenge log paani,
    Aur woh chup rahegi...

Cast :	Colonel Surat Singh	Dhananjay Singh	(B.E. IV Mech)
	Judge-1	Swati Chaturvedi	(B.Arch III)
	Judge-2	Amit Bhagchandani	(B.Arch III)
	Major Puri	Sharad Gupta	(B.E. IV Indl)
	Captain Bikash Rai	Manish Rai	(B.E. IV Mech)
	Dr. Gupta / Lt.Col. Brijender Rawat	Narendra	(B.E. IV Elec)
	Captain Kapoor	Ateet	(B.E. IV Civil)
	Ramchander	Jeetesh Srivastava	(B.E. III Civil)
	Guard	Vinay	(B.E. III Meta)

Hiding a truth is same as speaking a lie. Oppression of poor people by the rich, oppression of a subordinate by a superior, caste barriers- all these wrongs were presented and binded together by a taut storyline, with an army background to make an explosive play.

The whole play is presented as a flashback of Col. Surat Singh, who has presided over many court martials, and has never hesitated in handing down the death penalty in all cases except one. That sole exception was the trial of Ramchander, a jawan in the army. The hero of the play was undoubtedly the defence lawyer, Captain Bikash Rai, who is driven by his strong conviction to get the whole truth into light and drive his point into people's mind. He meticulously chips away at the facade of senior army officers and exposes their mentality and perverse actions to the court and hence to the audience. Countering him was the prosecutor, Major Puri. Ramchander, though silent most of the time, and a mute spectator to the actions that were going to decide his fate, conveyed a lot more through his silence.

Ramchander was subjected to a lot of humiliation at the hands of his officer, Captain Kapoor. Captain Kapoor is an officer with no dignity, integrity or moral standing, he physically abuses his own wife, and subjects Ramchander to bestial treatment. When he could take things no more, Ramchander is forced to shoot Captain Kapoor, who survives, and his friend who is killed. Though alive, Captain Kapoor is so much humiliated when his deeds are known, that he is driven to suicide.