Drama - Chakchhu

Play Details

About DABALI Theatre

DABALI Theatre is a forum of professional theatre workers. With an aim of preserving and promoting the theatre culture and other cultural heritages of Nepal, DABALI Theatre was formed in 1995. It was a very critical moment in the Nepali theatre history. The young and enthusiastic artists were experimenting with both street theatre and proscenium theatre. Right at this juncture of Nepali theatre history, DABALI Theatre emerged. DABALI Theatre always promotes Nepali theatre workers and helps them to hone their skills.

Directorial

I read the acclaimed fiction writer Sharada Sharma’s novel Taap right after it got published. I found the stories of several characters impressive. Right then and there, I thought of staging a play out of Taap. Many years passed in between. I should have made an effort after serious contemplation. It happened this time around. In this effort to adapt the novel Taap into a play, playwright Anil Pandey has brought forth Sujata, one of the main characters of the novel. We have titled the play Chakchhu after the novel Taap. Unlike the novel, the play Chakchhu exclusively follows a Rana family’s daughter’s journey until she becomes a nun. After returning from America, she has to undergo several highs and lows. In the play, we have made an effort to guide Sujata up to the monastery. It has flown smoothly. We hope you will like it.

Synopsis

Chakchhu follows the story of Sujata, a young girl from an aristocratic Rana family in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Educated in the U.S. Sujata is an open minded girl with sharp critical thinking skills. She finds herself at odds with her overprotective divorced mother, who has become a politician. Meanwhile, Sujata’s boyfriend Mukti, eyewitness of killing his Maoist friend and his daughter at the hands of his own Maoist comrades, reappears in Kathmandu in his effort to escape from the Maoists. Both Sujata and Mukti are arrested on the way by the police and tortured badly by Sujata on the street. The troupe of monks rescued her then found herself at the hospital. She chose the monastery instead of going back home. With the help of senior-most nun Sulakshana (matron), she learns the basics of Buddhist rituals, practices and insights. Even at the monastery, she finds discrimination, then she raises critical questions for justice and equality. She then finds an extra Eye inner self of hers that became Chakchhu. Eventually, she is appointed the first ever nun to lead the monastery as the new Rinpoche

Buddha Theatre Festival 2022

15th and 16th April, 2022

Cultural Corporation (Rastriya Nachghar), Jamal, Kathmandu

Drama Chakchhu: Cast & Crew

Team Members