*Udaipur:* The Panchlight on stage may have been an old Petromax lamp, but on Sunday evening at Shilpgram, it illuminated much more than a dark village courtyard. It illuminated a society caught between tradition and change, pride and prejudice, exclusion and acceptance. The occasion was the presentation of *‘Meeta!

Panchlight Wale’* at the Darpan Auditorium, as part of Rangshala, the monthly theatre evening organised by the West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur. The performance by Bareilly-based theatre group *Drama Dropouts* transported the audience into a rural North India where a Petromax was a prized possession and knowing how to light one could suddenly become a matter of collective prestige. Directed by *Love Tomar, the production drew inspiration from Phanishwar Nath Renu's celebrated *Panchlight and the earthy emotional universe associated with Teesri Kasam. Yet the play did not remain a mere retelling. Tomar gave it an individual theatrical identity, weaving folk-theatre traditions, original compositions and the Rohilkhandi idiom into a lively stage narrative. ### *A village, a lamp and a love story* The story unfolds in a period when even a gram panchayat could struggle to acquire a Petromax. The villagers proudly bring home their new Panchlight. They even decide upon an auspicious moment to light it. Then comes the unexpected crisis. *Nobody knows how to light it.* What begins as a comic situation gradually exposes the deeper contradictions of the village. Behind the laughter are caste divisions, social hierarchy, conservatism, jealousy, ignorance and the everyday struggles of rural life. At the centre of this world are *Godhan and Munri*, whose love becomes entangled in social rules and collective prejudice. Godhan is punished and excluded from the village, despite possessing the very technical skill that the villagers desperately need. And when every boastful attempt to light the Panchlight fails, the village has little choice but to remember the man it had rejected. Godhan is called back. The Panchlight is lit. And with that flame comes an understated but powerful message: *society may exclude a person, but it cannot indefinitely ignore ability.* ### *The lamp becomes a metaphor* That is where the production rises above its period setting. The Panchlight is not merely a prop. It becomes a metaphor for knowledge, dignity and recognition. The villagers initially possess the object but lack the knowledge to use it. Godhan possesses the knowledge but is denied social acceptance. The contradiction is striking—and surprisingly contemporary. Even today, societies often celebrate status before competence, convention before talent and identity before ability. The play gently turns that contradiction into humour, allowing the audience to laugh first and reflect later. ### *Theatre spills beyond the stage* The production's energy came not only from its story but also from its theatrical treatment. The director used the stage, audience area and even the exit spaces as part of the performance, breaking the invisible wall between actors and spectators. The sutradhaars moved through the narrative with playful interventions, songs and earthy humour, giving the production the flavour of traditional folk theatre. *Pankaj Kumar Maurya, who played the *sutradhaar, Nanhe and the gajak seller, emerged as one of the evening's memorable performers. His original songs—written, composed and sung by him—added considerable colour and rhythm to the production. *Shobhit Gangwar, who also took on the responsibility of co-direction, portrayed Godhan with sensitivity and conviction. **Aashi Singh* gave Munri emotional depth, while *Madhuri Kashyap* as Gulri Chachi and *Jhalak Gangwar* as Mahua Ghatwarin added strong characterisation. Aman Gupta, Vijay Kumar, Rishabh Sharma, Shreya Rastogi, Ayush Agarwal, Siddhi Rastogi and Kapil contributed effectively to the ensemble. Music, lighting, sound and set design were used generously to create the atmosphere of a village fair and community gathering. ### *When the audience becomes part of the village* There was an infectious quality to the evening. The audience laughed at the villagers' helplessness, their exaggerated pride and their comic attempts to solve the Panchlight problem. But beneath the laughter was recognition—the recognition of human behaviour that has changed surprisingly little over the decades. Udaipur's audience also deserves appreciation for embracing artists arriving from outside the city. The warmth extended to the visiting performers was evident throughout the evening. There were, however, a few technical limitations. The Rohilkhandi dialect, while giving the play authenticity, occasionally made some dialogues difficult to catch. Minor sound disruptions inside the auditorium also affected clarity at places. These aspects could be refined in future performances.The play if sharply edited, would prove more effective. ### *Theatre's quiet power* Yet such imperfections were ultimately secondary to what the evening achieved. In a time when entertainment increasingly arrives through screens, theatre continues to offer something technology cannot easily reproduce—the shared experience of a story unfolding in real time, in the presence of an audience that laughs, reacts and breathes with the performers. Meeta!

Panchlight Wale succeeded because it brought an entire rural world onto the stage without losing its humour or humanity. And when the Panchlight finally came alive, it seemed to light up more than the village. It illuminated *love that refuses to disappear, talent that cannot remain invisible and a community forced to confront its own prejudice.* Perhaps that is the enduring magic of theatre: sometimes, all it takes is one small flame on a dark stage to make us see ourselves a little more clearly. The West Zone Cultural Centre and Drama Dropouts deserve appreciation for keeping that flame alive. *— Vilas Janve, Culture Activist*