Taj Mahal Ka Tender is one of the successful satires of contemporary times. This is a poem of love, in which the story of Laila Majnu is being told again in the style of a traditional poetry and drama, in which two couples growing up in the atmosphere of the nomadic Bedu community of the Middle East in the early years of the 7th century. Much of the life of the young residents is revealed. Emperor Shah Jahan invites the chief engineer of CPWD, Guptaji and shares his dream of building a monument in the memory of his late wife, Mumtaz. After much deliberation he comes to the conclusion that a mausoleum be built in her memory and he wants it to be named Taj Mahal. Guptaji, a shrewd, corrupt, official, entraps the Emperor in the snares of bureaucracy and red tapism leading to many hilarious situations. The ridiculous bureaucratic procedure takes 25 year only to float the tender notice of Taj Mahal.
Playwright
Born on July 7th 1955, at Agra (U.P.) Mr. Ajay Shukla is a post graduate in history from Lucknow University. In 1980, he joined Indian Railway Traffic Service and retired as a member of the Traffic Railway Board (Ex. office Secretary to the Govt. of India) in July 2015. He has published several collections of poems in Hindi as well as in English – Prashnachinh (1991), Pratibodh (1997), Silent Rain Drops (1992). Tajmahal Ka Tender, Tajmahal Ka Udghatan, Philosophy of Gita and Four Lane Expressway to Stress Management and Happiness are his other published works.
He was awarded with Mohan Rakesh Samman for his play Tajmahal Ka Tender in 1997 by the Delhi Sahitya Kala Parishad in 2000. He also received the National Award by All India Radio (Akashvani) for his play Hum Honge Kaamyaab.
Director
M.A. in Sociology from the University of Hyderabad, Chittaranjan Tripathy graduated from National School of Drama in 1996 with specialization in acting. He obtained his Sangeet Visharad in Oddisi vocal from Prachin Kala Kendra, Chandigarh, under the supervision of Guru Shri Bhaskar Chandra Das. He has also trained at the musical theatre department, the Guildford School of Acting (GSA), Guildford, UK, under the Charles Wallace fellowship.
He is a practicing director/writer/actor/musician in the areas of theatre, television and cinema. He has directed plays for many leading theatre groups and repertory companies including the National School of Drama Repertory Company, the Shri Ram Centre Repertory and the Sahitya Kala Parishad Rang Mandal. Some of his most popular plays include TajMahal Ka Tender Capitol Express, Arre Mayavi Sarovar, Ladi Nazaria, Humare Sheher Ke Romeo Juliet, Gunno Bai, Yahudi ki Ladki, Darling Darling, Taj Mahal Ka Udghatan, Are Shareef Log and Shabash Anarkali.
He has also conducted theatre workshops with children and adults in India and UK and has directed television series for various channels ie Life Ok, Star One, Zee Smile, and Door Darshan. His debut feature film ‘Dhauli Express’ (Oriya) won many state awards including the best film. He was also got the awarded the best music director and best playback singer for this film, which participated also in the festival celebrating 75 years of Oriya cinema, organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
Chittranjan has acted in many Oriya ad Hindi films like Delhi – 6, Phantom, Talvar, Zubaan, Tera Mera Tedha Medha, Mukhyamantri etc. His debut directorial Hindi film, ‘Tera Mera Tedha Medha’ was released in 2015.
Director’s note
The State is the best creation of man as it is not an imitation of anything that existed before. With the emergence of the State, a primitive society is transformed into a civil society, along with the change of time an urge for change arose also in the mind of man, leading to the germination of division of labour, division of time, rank, file, red- tape etc., thereby giving birth to officialdom.
Taj Mahal ka Tender is a stark satire on this very red tapism, rank-file, clerkism and the officialdom. It focuses on the organizational diseases that India is suffering due to- corruption, idleness, favoritism, backwardness, arrogance and insensitivity to public needs.
Group
Established in 1964 with only 4 members, Rangamandal Company is the regular performing wing of the school. It was established with the dual objective of establishing commercial theater on the one hand and continuing regular experimental work on the other.