CHHARIGANGA: A BISTAAR BY
SOUMITRA CHATTOPADHYAY, THE MASTER OF THE STAGE
Way back in 1981, I remember, Soumitra
Chattopadhyay in conversation with yours truly had said that before stepping on
to the stage to act out a character in front of his viewers, he studies the
character and he thinks about it, and then like the bistaar in a kheyal
rendition he gradually unfolds the character on the stage. His words
resonated after these thirty years later the other day when I had gone to see,
rather experience yet another sterling work of this master of the stage.
Sanstab presented Chhariganga
as their latest production with Soumitra Chattopadhyay directing the play and doing
the role of the protagonist. A couple of days before the day the show was
staged at Tapan Memorial Theatre, or it would be correct to say that I had the
opportunity to see the staging, the central government had announced that this
year’s Dada Saheb Phalke awardee would be this thespian who had gifted
innumerable scintillating performances since his first shot as Apu ushering in
his newly-wed wife, Aparna to his dilapidated roof-top room beside the railway
yard fifty three years back. A national award for acting had come his way for
the first time just four years back and that, too, after fifty two years of our
sheer disregard to choose and acknowledge a gem from the coloured glass beads.
This shame has been somewhat lessened by this announcement of the award. But to
many theatre-goers like me Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an outright stage person who
also acts in films. Unfortunately we have not given him his dues for we have
failed to gauge the immense depth of his capabilities on the stage.
Jointly written with Amit Ranjan Biswas,
the play has those poetic qualities that are the benchmarks of a Soumitra play.
It tells the story of a scientist who though having international recognition
is out casted because of his shifting into the field of quasi-science world of alchemy
to probe into the origin of the Creation. His eccentric pursuits had led to the
death of his wife and for which his daughter who lives abroad comes to him in
his many feats of hallucinations and holds him responsible. Driven out from the
professional and the social worlds he lives secluded in his ancestral
dilapidated mansion far away from the city and on the banks of the huge
Chhariganga lagoon. A person who also has a past to hide visits him to help him
out in his daily chores and, thereby, giving him company at least for some part
of the day. Both the characters are like the backwaters of Chhariganga –
isolated from the main stream. At the end his daughter comes to take him with
her and thereby release him of his bondage from isolation and dejection.
As a drama it has not much novelty to boast
off, and that makes the production much more significant. But the presentation
on the stage will make the production worthy of mention as a major event on the
Bengali stage. The two characters or rather three as the character of the daughter
portrayed by Poulomi Bose, the thespians daughter in his real life, has two
appearances – one as the real daughter of the scientist and the other as the
one who comes in his hallucinations – are entwined so perfectly in the body of
the play that there is no difficulty in their perspectives as against the
protagonist. The role of the person who gives company to the scientist is
excellently executed by the elderly stage personality, Dwijen Bandopadhyay.
This senior actor has been contributing immensely to the Bengali stage for
quite a number of decades and has developed a particular style of his own and
it was interesting to note that in this particular character he was bereft of
that style. That proved his versatility
once again. Poulomi on the other hand was immaculate in rendering the
daughter’s character both in the real and surreal forms. For both the actors it
is needless to say that sharing the stage with the master is a real challenge
and with the directorial support from the master, himself, the work becomes a
finely tuned piece.
And as for Soumitra’s presentation of the
character it was an experience for the viewers as is usual in his all other
works. Here he was creating a character of a man of science with outstanding
intelligence but who has lost his battle to get to the truth of something he
believes is at the core of existence, and is living a castigated life of a
recluse. His work can best be described taking his words in reference. As a
viewer one experienced the bliss of listening to a master expressively
interpreting each note of the raga in the bistaar of a kheyal.
As such works of art can never be emulated nor can be repeated it remains an
experience of a life-time for those who witnessed the performance at that point
of time. In subsequent staging, it is natural that the master would render the same
dialogues but the resonance that would be created in the viewers of that
performance would be something different, something unique. And so the concept
of stage performance gets a very different meaning, a different connotation
when such masters are on the stage. Then to top it all there is a nuance, an
overtone of poetic lyricism in the structuring of sequences or moments that carry
the undoubted signature of the director. For the students of theatre such works
unveil a thousand texts for them to imbibe.
The
other aspects have been well handled. Soumik-Piyalis’ stage design has
significantly contributed to create the ambience which did help in the run of
the play. So did the light design by Badal Das as darkness and the lantern
lights played important roles in creating the surreal effects. Dishari’s
background score was kept to the minimum. The dress designs and their colours
were very well thought out. The maroon robe and the staff in his hand gave the
scientist’s appearance a medieval look which certainly brought out the
perspective of the character. Though Md.Ali’s make-up was well done there
seemed to be some sort of discomfort for the master thespian in a few
instances. But that certainly did not hamper his act.
What did hamper the production is the
constant disturbance of the ringing of the cell phones of the so-called
culturally superior viewers of Kolkata most of whom sadly had gone to see
‘Soumitra’ rather than to appreciate and dunk in the awe-inspiring performance
of this great master of stage.
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