Satish Kumar Verma

Manchan Natak Satish Kumar Verma

It was the first quarterly book series on the subject of drama and theatre in Punjabi language. From 1987 to 1993, as many as 25 issues of the series were published. These issues have become a part of history now but are available in digital form. The entire magazine was column-based. Keeping in view the shortage of stageable dramas in Punjabi, the first column of "Manchan" was named "Script." It carried invariably a newly written drama. The book in question i.e. "Manchan Natak" is a compilation of eight Small Plays published in the first eight issues of "Manchan". It includes on one hand the dramas of established playwrights like Gursharan Singh, Ajmer Aulakh and Atamjit while on the other are the maiden plays of writers like Sadhu Singh, Rajinder Bhogal, Atai Singh, Satish Kumar Verma and Sarabjit Singh Bedi. Dr. Haribhajan Singh wrote a very valuable preface titled "Hungara" to this book published in 1988. He made very candid and remarkable comments on Punjabi drama in this foreword. This new edition has been published in view of the entire literary, theatrical and historical significance of the book.