1998

Cast :	Hameed	Harsh Enkhia	(B.Arch. II)
	Verma	Vivek Sinha	(B.E. I Chem)
	Chacha	Saurabh Bhargava	(B.E. IV Civil)
	Saleem	Anindo Mukherjee	(B.E. III CST )
	Madame	Swati Chaturvedi	(B.Arch IV)
	Virgine	Rashi Rastogi	(B.E. II Indl)
	Petroys	Nitin Girotra	(B.E. II Indl)
	Banerjee	Madhukar Sinha	(B.E. IV Indl)
	Rani	Sweety Agarwal	(B.Arch. II)
	Postman	Rajkumar	(B.E. I Meta)
	Jambert	Saif Iqbal	(B.E. II Chem)

Imagine a girl of your dreams, someone you have always craven for, and whom you are going to marry so that she be yours forever... well almost. What would happen if you happen to marry your would be mother-in-law, so that she becomes your wife and as a consequence your would be wife would actually be your daughter, pretty complicated stuff, and sure to move many ordinary mortals to distraction. But our hero, Saleem Shervani is no ordinary mortal, and what people may find shocking or indigestible, he takes it as if it is routine stuff for him, and tries to wiggle out of the situation only to find himself mired in a much deeper one!

The play starts with the scene of a Registrar's office, which as it turns out later, becomes the starting point of Saleem's travails, when it should have been the end of his long years of loneliness. We meet the perennial drunk assistant Verma and the happy-go-lucky peon Hameed, who give the audience an idea as to the 'seriousness' with which matters were dealt their. Now, Madame is a very doting mother whose primary concern is that her beautiful daughter Virgine settles down with a well-to-do husband. Therefore, she completely disregards the facts that were already portending a mismatch- the age difference between the to be bride and groom, Virgine's reluctance in marrying Saleem as she was in love with a dashing young, somewhat dumb and overly melodramatic, Petroys. Completing the cast of these misfits was Saleem's 'Chacha' who again added to the comic element of the play.

In the ongoing confusion and chaos, the registrar Banerjee accidentally marries Saleem to Madame instead of Virgine. Saleem returns to his home with his 'wife' Virgine and tries to win her love. But his sweet dream turns into a dreadful nightmare when he is informed about the humongous error that has been committed. Madame on the other hand is overjoyed that her lonely life has got a new spark. Saleem's predicament is amply reflected by his maid-servant Rani, who it seems gets her only delight by perpetually troubling her already beleaguered master.

Saleem gradually gets resigned to the fact that atleast for the time being he is stuck with Madame, so he starts to adjust to his new life. But destiny had other things in store for him. Jambert, who was Madame's possessive husband and had been missing for the last two years and was thought to be dead, returns to what he thinks will be the happy family it was before his disappearance. To his great surprise and indignation, he finds that his lawfully wedded wife is once again lawfully married to a younger man!

But once again, like Saleem before him, Jambert resigns himself to the fact that his wife has not one but two husbands, and the three of them try to lead a normal life for some time. Banerjee once again comes to what was thought to be their 'rescue' but once again manages to complicate matters further by divorcing Jambert and Madame, instead of Saleem and Madame. But as two wrongs make a right, so too many and many wrongs interspered with some rights and multiplied with loads of confusion and hullabaloo somehow managed to get things back on the right track.

Madame and Jambert gets reunited; Virgine and Petroys tie the knot with the blessings of both the bride's father and ex-father. The only casualty in the whole drama was the 'hero' or, should we say the 'tragic hero' of the play, Saleem Shervani, who was left to find another "sweet 18" girl so that he may again start building his castles in the air!

1. Dulhan se tumhara milan hoga,
     O' man zara dheer dharo,
     Bahon mein chandi sa badan hoga,
     O' man zara dheer dharo.

     Gaon sang sang mere chalo jhoom kar,
     Khush hoon mein aaj mera piya aaya ghar,
     Pehloon mein mera sajan hoga,
     O' man zara dheer dharo.

     Wah Khuda kaise hai yeh jodi nirali,
     Ek phool ko mile hai do-do mali,
     Jawaan aaj se ye gulshan hoga,
     O' man zara dheer dharo.

     Aao mange mil ke duaen ye sabhi,
     Bane na tamasha aise phir se kabhi,
     Aabad dil ka chaman hoga,
     O' man zara dheer dharo.

2. Suno doston, suno hazraton, dhyan laga kar suno zara,
     Rishton ke gadbad jhale ki ek dastan suno zara,
     Karte hai ye bayan tumhe, ek aashiq ki nadaani,
     Majnu ki kurbani bhi jiske aage bharti paanil
     Aisa golmaal na hoga dekha kabhi barso mein,
     Aise dekhi na hogi rishton ki azaadi,
     Kahon bhai, kaise rahi shaadi?
   .................

Note: Song 1 was as a song-and-dance sequence at the end of the play, involving all the cast memebrs.
Song 2 served as an introduction to the whole story. It is given incompletely here due to space constraints.
Both the songs were penned by Achintya <Non-dram> (B.E. III Indl).

During the practise of the play, Jeetender Mittal, the author of 'Mantrimandal', and who had also directed this play before, came to Roorkee to give some pointers. His acute observations on the play and other things which he taught in an informal workshop were really helpful, and helped the section in improving itself.

Cast :	Sutradhar-1	Jeetesh Srivastava	(B.E. IV Civil)
	Sutradhar-2	Niharika Singh	(B.Arch. IV)
	Banwari	Vishal Chadha	(B.E. III E&C)
	Mallu Kaka	Saurabh Bhargav	(B.E. IV Civil)
	Budhni	Shashilata Singh	(B.Arch. I)
	Sarpanch / Munaadi	B. Rajkumar	(B.E. I Meta)
	Sonkali	Garima Deepti	(B.Arch I)

For long, exploitation of poor, illiterate rural people at the hands of a few modern day landlords and government officials has been a cause of concern. This forms the central idea of the play.The central plot revolved around a villager, Banwari, who, crippled by poverty and inherited indebtnessfrom forefathers, is forced into half-wage bonded labour at Seth Kasturchand's house. There were two Sutradhars, who took the audience through the entire plot.

Further he is forced into secret and illicit relationship by theSeth's beautiful wife Sonkali. His financial state and the burden of unfaithfulness towards his wife Budhni, leaves Banwari shattered.Hope finally arrives in the form of a government scheme for people below poverty line according to which they all have to be granted Rs. 500/- each.With the submission of his own form for the scheme at B.D.O office, Banwari dreams of all his troubles vanishing away. He rejoices with his uncle Mallu Kaka and his wife Budhni.

However, fate again plays a cruel game. When Banwari begins his daily work of making packets out of waste paper, he is shocked to find all his forms of the government scheme lying in the waste bundle before him with his own form lying at the at the top.The entire reality of the situation dawns on him and he realises how he has been cheated along with all other villagers. The tragedy is enough to drive him mad. Thus the play ends on a sad note. The tragic end to the play left the entire audience in retrospection of the failure of the government and its agencies to help the poor.

Cast :	Raju Guide	Harsh Enkhia	(B.Arch. II)
	Udyogpati / America	Nitin Girotra	(B.E. Indl II)
	Sarkar	Itisha Tyagi	(B.E. E&C II)
	Udyogpati	Avlokita Agarwal	(B.Arch. I)
	Police	Vishal Chowdhry	(B.E. Civil I)
	Janta	Sweety Agarwal	(B.Arch. II)
	Pagal	Vivek Sinha	(B.E. Chem I)

"Janta pagal ho gayi hai"- yes, this is what the powerholders say when ultimately the 'Janta' revolts against the oppression that they had been subjected to for years.They play brings to the fore the exploitation the general public has to face from politicians, the administrative bureaucrats, industrialists, etc. Its is a vicious nexus among these which totally degenerates the people for their petty gains.

Cast :	Charandas	Jeetesh Srivastava	(B.E. IV Civil)
	Rani	Swati Chturvedi	(B.Arch IV)
	Mantri	Mayank Singh	(B.Arch IV)
	Policeman/ Treasurer	Amit Bhagchandani	(B.Arch IV)
	Swami	Saurabh Bhargava	(B.E. IV Civil)
	Satu waala	Madhukar Sinha	(B.E. IV Indl)
	Rani's attendants/	Neha Krishan	(B.E. IV CST)
	Devotees/	Rashmi Tripathi	(B.E. IV E&C)
	Sharabi/ Juaari	Manupriya Agarwal	(B.E. IV CST)
	Nartak Mandli	Harsh, Vivek, Anindo, Sweety, Vidhi, Avlokita