Siachen (Drama)Critic’s rating: 3.5 starsCast: Zahan Kapoor, Niketan Sharma, Ashish Bhatt, Jatin Sarin, Chitransh Pawar, Rohit Mehra, Nitin Passi Mannu, Seerat Mast and Shruti JollyDirector: Makarand DeshpandeDuration: 1 hour 15 minutesLanguage: HindiWhen a small stage inside an auditorium can transport you to a glacial peak more than 20,000 feet above sea level, to an Indian military post in the unforgiving terrain of Siachen, you know the play is doing something right.Siachen, written by Aditya Rawal and directed by Makarand Deshpande, is an intense survival drama that takes you far beyond the physical battle against the elements and into the fragile human mind.The play opens with the death of one of four soldiers (Nitin Passi Mannu) stationed at a remote military post after a deadly avalanche cuts off all communication with the base camp. Stranded on the ice-covered peak, Lieutenant Tanmay Bose (Zahan Kapoor), Lance Naik Anthony D’Souza (Aashish Bhatt) and Subedar Shabbir Naqvi (Niketan Sharma) are left to fend for themselves.Their ordeal is almost unimaginable. The transmitter is dead, there is no safe route down to the base camp and the brutal cold is an enemy that never lets up. Though the post has enough food, survival is about much more than food. As the days stretch into an uncertain wait, the soldiers battle hallucinations, isolation, fear and the psychological trauma of watching their comrades die. The mountain slowly begins to test not just their physical endurance but their grip on reality.And this is where Aditya’s writing truly shines. He explores what prolonged isolation at one of the most inhospitable places on earth can do to the human psyche. The physical toll is immense, but the mental toll is far greater. Aditya takes each character towards his psychological breaking point, allowing their vulnerabilities, fears and contradictions to emerge organically. The sharp, dark humour threaded through the narrative also offers moments of relief without diluting the gravity of their situation.With Makarand at the helm, the nuances of these characters come alive. His direction ensures that we don’t merely watch these soldiers struggle, we begin to care about them, flaws and all. The claustrophobic setting becomes a character in itself, constantly looming over them.The performances are uniformly strong. Zahan, as Tanmay, the highest-ranking officer at the post, brings a restrained intensity to the role. His understated performance works particularly well as he attempts to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the others together. Niketan is particularly impressive, portraying a man desperately trying to hold the team together even as circumstances threaten to pull them apart. Aashish is equally convincing , bringing warmth and vulnerability to his character.Jatin Sarin, as the Pakistani local, is another standout, adding yet another layer to a narrative where notions of enemy and ally become complicated by the sheer force of survival.What makes Siachen especially compelling is the way it reminds us that on a glacier, even after a ceasefire, humans are not entirely in control of their fate. The weather becomes the ultimate arbitrator — indifferent to borders, uniforms, rank or politics. At an altitude where every breath, every movement and every decision comes at a cost, nature has the final word on life and death.Where the play falters slightly is in its pacing. The prolonged stretches of psychological unraveling, while effective in establishing the soldiers’ state of mind, occasionally feel repetitive and could have been tightened. Some of the hallucination-driven sequences also verge on feeling overly theatrical, taking away from the otherwise grounded realism of the narrative. At times, the intensity is also pushed a little too hard, when the quieter moments are actually more powerful.Siachen is ultimately not just a play about soldiers stationed on the world’s highest battlefield. It is a powerful exploration of camaraderie, isolation, fear, resilience and the extraordinary lengths human beings will go to in order to survive. And for 90 minutes, that little auditorium stage becomes the frozen, unforgiving expanse of Siachen, and you feel the cold.
Should you watch it?
Absolutely. Siachen is gripping, thought-provoking and emotionally powerful and goes beyond the familiar war narrative to explore the psychological cost of isolation, survival and uncertainty.
