Early Times Report JAMMU, Oct 21: To mark the 232nd birth anniversary of Maharaja Gulab Singh, Natrang screened the highly acclaimed Hindi film 'Gulab Gatha' twice at Natrang Studio Theatre for the invited audiences. Conceptualized, written and directed by Padamshree Balwant Thakur, the making and showcasing of this magnificent film was supported by Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Trust. It is pertinent to mention here that Dr. Karan Singh who is also the Chairman of Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Trust inspired Balwant Thakur to write, produce and direct this first ever film on the history of Great Dogra ruler who created the larger princely state of India. In his virtual address live from Mauritius views Balwant Thakur said that unfortunately J&K is the only region of Indian union where local history and culture is not taught to the students for the reasons best known to authorities. To make the younger generations aware of their rich past and also to sensitize them about the making of this state, Natrang with the help of Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Trust took this initiative to produce a film and now is being taken to every nook and corner with the motive to expose everyone about the actual history. While sharing his experiences about the making of this first ever film on the history of Jammu and Kashmir he also expressed his heartiest gratitude to Dr Karan Singh who not only supported the making of this historic film document but also appreciated it immensely. The film 'Gulab Gatha' is about the journey of a soldier who achieves great success at everything he initiated. His unquestionable obligatory obedience towards Lahore Durbar, his unconditional sacrifice and his conception of a kingdom has been regarded and given value in this. The greatness of leaders is not just in their works but in the way they have been appreciated and personified in the eyes of the people. Napoleon was a military and political hero of France and Alexander has been applauded for his greatness for his conquest. Gulab Singh as an emperor held the same qualities of being a courageous warrior. He was a normal person with no lineage of royalty but he established himself as a King with the help of his bravery and continued to keep a hold on his empire because of his well-planned strategic and diplomatic intelligence. The lead role of Maharaja Gulab Singh is played by FTII's meritorious product and Yuva Bismillah Khan Awardee Sunil Kumar Palwal who has many films and TV serials to his credit including Jolly LLB2, Mughal-e-Azam, 'Yeh Dil Ramta Yogi', 'Chera-the unknown mask', 'Satin Sin B's', MTV Rush, Shapptah, Rakshak, Sapne Suhaane Ladakpan Ke etc. He is supported by prominent TV and stage actors of Jammu including Arvind Anand, Madan Rangeela, Janak Khajuria, Anil Tickoo, Neeraj Kant, Vijay Bhat, Pankaj Sharma, Sudhir Jamwal, Sanjeev Gupta, Suresh Kumar, Subash Jamwal, Sumeet Sharma, Gaurav Jamwal, Rahul Sharma, Peshin kanwal, Aftab Singh Chauhan, Meera Tapasvi, Aarushi Thakur Rana, Gauri Thakur, Mohd. Yaseen, Rahul Singh, Goutam Sharma, Ashish Parihar, Brijesh Avtar Sharma, Sanket Bhagat, Sushant Singh Charak, Aviral Kapoor, Shivam Singh, Kuldeep Angral, Chirag Anand, Shivam Sharma and Mohsin Malik. |