On Saturday, the 22^nd of July, acclaimed dramatist Saurabh Shukla’s second play ‘Barff’ was presented to an eager audience in GD Birla Sabhagar. Set in a freezing night in Kashmir, the play revolves around only three characters − a renowned doctor named Siddhant (played by Shukla), a humble Kashmiri taxi driver called Ghulam Rasool (played by Sunil Palwal), and Ghulam’s wife Nafisa (played by Sadiya Siddiqui). The play was a Hindi thriller with a very minimalistic set, the prime focus being on the plot and characters.

The story is revolves around Siddhant, an eminent oncologist, attending   a medical conference in Srinagar. During his trip he is driven around by Ghulam who receives an urgent call from his wife informing him about the ill health of their child. Siddhant graciously offers to come and see the child personally, and offer treatment. An oddly hesitant Ghulam takes him to his village which had been abandoned by all the residents other than the taxi driver’s own family as it kept falling prey to constant terror attacks.

An atmosphere of light-hearted humor pervades while the sophisticated doctor communicates with the unrefined country bumpkin whist they make their way to the abandoned village. Siddhant finds Ghulam’s lifestyle rather peculiar. They two men meet Nafisa, the homely Kashmiri wife of Ghulam, who requests the doctor to examine her child. The audience’s suspicion rises as Ghulam tries to repeatedly intervene and keep the doctor from looking at the child. However, the insistent, and psychotic mother has her way and presents her bundle of joy to Siddhant to observe. Siddhant, in turn, is aghast and flabbergasted at what he sees and through this drama he finds himself bound in ropes by the couple.

The psychological thriller offers the audience a peep into the lives of the mentally unstable and the handling of this situation by the other members of the cast.

Saurabh Shukla, the director, actor and writer, did a splendid job of playing the kind-hearted doctor. His script was magnificent, cleverly infusing elements of comedy with suspense. The simplistic, yet effective rhetoric of all the characters added to the magnificence of the play. Sunil Palwal’s representation of Ghulam was charming and Sadiya Siddiqui’s representation of the aggressive, yet tender Nafisa was phenomenal.

The play raised some very thought-provoking questions on the ideas of religion, criteria of psychological normality in society, as well as on the concept of truth. It was rather novel in thought and full of twists and turns and leaves the audience thinking about the condition of Kashmir, its people and their plight.

On Saturday, the 22^nd of July, acclaimed dramatist Saurabh Shukla’s second play ‘Barff’ was presented to an eager audience in GD Birla Sabhagar. Set in a freezing night in Kashmir, the play revolves around only three characters − a renowned doctor named Siddhant (played by Shukla), a humble Kashmir