Chainpur Ki Daastaan: a nuanced satire on corruption

The play explores the deep rooted malaise of corruption in small-town life, where muscle power reigns supreme and no institution cannot be purchased. Hidden away in the noise and cacophony, somewhere, is the aam aadmi.

For theatre ­enthusiasts, this is another chance to explore the famous adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General, yet again. Chainpur Ki Daastaan is a nuanced satire on corruption in a fictional town, Chainpur. The story revolves around an ageing, crooked Nawab and his hysteric Begum, along with their coterie of sycophant advisors, who are alarmed when they hear rumours that the “Dilli sarkar” is sending a senior officer to clean up the mess that is Chainpur’s money-guzzling administration.

A-still-from-the-play-Chainpur-Ki-Daastaan

Rashmi Vaidialingam, producer and also one of the actors in the play, says, “It was an amazing experience. “Our group (Navras) is a very old one, but this is the first time we’re ever doing this script and it came out to be a wonderful watch.”

The play explores the deep rooted malaise of corruption in small-town life, where muscle power reigns supreme and no institution cannot be purchased. Hidden away in the noise and cacophony, somewhere, is the aam aadmi.

The director of the play, Amitabh Srivastava, explains what are the different elements they’ve tried to incorporate to keep it slightly different from the previous presentations. “We have consciously used very few props and kept it as original as we could. I am a little old school and believe in the traditional setup. I haven’t tried my hands on new media,” says Srivastava.

NEAREST METRO ­STATION: Mandi House on the Blue Line