Bhopal: Asmanjas Babu’s Perpetual Dilemma Condemns Him To Bachelorhood

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s story was rendered into a play, Asmanjas Babu, at Shaheed Bahwan in the city on Sunday.

Adapted by Akhtar Ali and directed by Nazir Qureshi, this was the first one-act play of one of the oldest theatre groups of Bhopal, Karavan.

There was no plot in the 75-minute play but events happened every moment. Theatre actor Ubaid Ullah Khan played the protagonist Asmanjas Babu whose whole life is spent in a dilemma whether to marry or remain a bachelor. Poems by Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena and Amrita Pritam added charm to the play. Besides, some of the comments of Osho were also used in theatrical adaptation.

The saga of the play revolves around protagonist who considers himself different from others. His name is Asmanjas Babu. He got this name because for every work he thinks whether he should do it or not. The culmination of this confusion is that a question arose in his mind whether to marry or remain a bachelor. In the name of Asamanjas Babu, the author criticises the evils of the society in a very cheeky manner and also gives his opinion on them.

The story takes a turn when a child sells dog to Asamanjas Babu because his mother is hungry. He falls in love with the dog. Suddenly one day, while watching a Charlie Chaplin film, the dog also starts laughing. Confused by this act of the dog, the Babu became famous at the international level.