"A bullet doesn't see who it is killing when fired," says the director of The Black Calendar

The theatre group from Srinagar’s Ekta School of Drama and Repertory stages its most popular play The Black Calendar in Bengaluru
A scene from the play
A scene from the play

The year was 2010, the year of unrest. A lot changed in the lives of 100 boys in Kashmir that year. All these boys, called ‘a century’ by the media, lost their lives between June and August of that year. This weekend, these boys will be remembered again in The Black Calendar — a play by Srinagar’s Ekta School of Drama and Repertory, which will be staged in Bengaluru.

Conceptualised by Muzamil Hayat Bhawani and written by Muzamil, Bhawani Bashir Yasir and Mukti Ravi Das (who plays the lead), this play brings to stage what occurred during those three months. “Every scene recreates stories that were reported in the newspapers,” explains Muzamil who has also directed this play.
 

Jinxed century
The narrative is an amalgam of stories. Mukti plays over 25 different characters (including that of women), with supporting roles from the other cast members. “A boy is stuck in a room, and he gets the newspaper everyday. He reads a fresh report in the morning and the same thing is enacted for the audience,” says Muzamil.
 

On his annual vacation in 2010, the director, who was then a student at National School of Drama, Delhi (NSD), was confined to his sister’s house because of the curfew, during the three months while the protests were on. His only sources of knowing what was happening outside were the radio and newspaper. “The day I read that 100 boys had died, making it a century, it struck me that the only other century we knew was Sachin’s century. That’s when I decided that I must do something about all that has happened and I started collecting the newspapers,” says the director.

After he graduated from NSD and worked for a year, in 2013, Muzamil got together with his uncle Bashir, a Kashmiri theatre artiste and Mukti, another theatre artiste and a non-Kashmiri (both alumni of NSD) to work with him.“I wanted the story to be told from both perspectives. This play is not a piece of propaganda about my state,” he says.
 

Bullet ahead
The set is minimal with a charpai (woven cot) as one of the main props. Incidents like that of the child who was shot by a stray bullet while playing with his friends in a cricket ground are included in the plot. “A bullet doesn’t see who it is killing when fired,” says the director thoughtfully. The main focus of the play is on women and Mukti plays all the main female characters. “When someone dies, a mother, a sister, wife, and a daughter are most impacted. It’s not just the date, the entire calendar turns black for these women,”concludes Muzamil.

Rs 250. Sunday, 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm. At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar

ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax

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