About The Event
Chanakya
A historical play in Hindi
Love for one’s society and one’s nation is the greatest virtue. Nationalism elevates an individual from his mundane existence and improves his quality of life. Patriotism binds an individual to his society and inspires the strong to work towards the betterment of the weak.
The present play Chanakya’s singular motive at heart is to stimulate patriotism and nationalism in people. Thirty-six years since its first show, the need for this subject has only increased, sadly. With terrorism and separatism on one hand and general decay of values on the other hand in our country, the depiction of this great merit is of greatest importance in the present times.
Chanakya was the greatest statesman, a visionary and arguably the first patriot of the world. He singlehandedly carved out the nation that is India today, out of the chaos of infighting and exploiting the regional kings of the time. This he did when the rest of the world was either made of city-states or exploitative kingdoms ruled by tyrants.
Chanakya’s time was circa 320 BC. Alexander the Great was on his aggression so he could divert the attention of his own people from the hardships of life in Rome. Indian kings on the north-western frontier of the Indian subcontinent were either surrendering to him or being defeated by him. Chanakya realized that for the happiness, justice and security of his people, he would have to create a pivotal force that could rule the entire subcontinent with equality of all subjects at heart. He showed superhuman endurance and strife to achieve this end. His brilliant manoeuvrings and his purity of intentions ultimately saw the dawn of a new era in the shape of the Mauryan Empire.
We started the second run of the Hindi version of Chanakya immediately after the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. The first show was dedicated to the memory of our martyr Constable Tukaram Omble, due to whose selfless sacrifice the only perpetrator of that dastardly act, Ajmal Kasab, was captured. Since then we have been continuously performing the show in Mumbai as well as touring around India and abroad extensively. We have received great accolades and responses wherever we have performed this play. We intend to continue performing this show and spread the message of nationalism and patriotism for a long time in the future.
