Masantaar, a play that uses the age-old practice of shamanism to satarise the country’s politics, is currently being staged at Mandala Theatre in Anamnagar.

Written and directed by Pradeep Kumar Chaudhary, Masantaar is structured around the Dhami Jhankri practice in the play’s titular village.

Speaking to the Post, writer/director Chaudhary said that with the play—“a political satire”—he aims to present the country as a Masantaar itself. “The fictional village of Masantaar is an impoverished village, where anyone who doesn’t believe in the ideas of ghosts and masaans is bullied. The village is also grappling with the problem of brain drain. Symbolically, we’ve tried to connect that particular problem with the larger problem that the country itself is grappling with,” director Chaudhary said.

Chaudhary went on, “To many of us who grew up in rural villages, the ideas of ghosts and graveyards are not new. It’s quite surprising that they still exist there today and there are many who make a living out it. We have designed the play both as a rebuttal of such practices and have also tried to make it work as an allegory to reflect the political atmosphere of the country.”

Masantaar pivots around the story of a man, who returns to the village after completing his studies in the city and takes it upon himself to refute the ideas of ghosts and masaans.

Masantaar features actors Sudip Khatiwada, Pushkar Shahi, Sagar Dahal, Aayan Khadka, Milan Karki, and Pavitra Ghimire, among others.

The play will run through December 18.