KHELA BHANGAR
KHELA : Ushnik’s unique tribute to Tagore
The
name of the production happens to be a line from one of Tagore songs, ‘‘
Aaj
khela bhangar khela khelbi aaye ’’ where the Poet beckons the world to join
him in the celebrations of the Spring time by breaking away from the shackles
of the mundane and defying the rage of the Nor’-wester. This theme has nothing
to do with the Ushnik production under the baton of the playwright-director
Ishita Mukherjee. But the similarity lies somewhere else. The concept of the
production has something in common to the Poet’s call to break away from the
known path. Ishita views some of the Tagore characters in their changed sexual
image. Though the gender of the characters has been mutated in the
presentation, the purpose of their being remains unchanged. And that is where
she forces the viewers to try to understand the deeper aspects of the Tagorean
philosophy.
Ishita
has picked up twelve characters from six Tagore pieces. In each of the instance
except one, the viewers confront the characters in the opposite gender to the
one Tagore had portrayed them in his works. So we find a young girl instead of
Amal and a female singing minstrel instead of Thakurda in ‘Dakghar’. The
viewers find that the thirst for the unknown remains the same no matter whether
it is a young boy or a young girl, and the dream-merchant can also be of any
sex. So are the basic characteristics like love, possessiveness, jealousy,
etc., expressed regardless of the gender.
When Labanya becomes an iconoclastic young man in ‘Shesher Kabita’ and Ela
in ‘Chaar Adhyae’ recites out ‘Prohor sheser aloye ranga…’ or for
instance, Atin speaks out the departing lines like ‘‘Aamar chaitanyer shesh
muhortyo tumi-I nao’’ and Sandip of ‘ Ghare Baire’ is a woman who does not
hide her ambitious image that is seen amongst many a woman political leaders
that we come across very often, or Raghupati in ‘Bisarjan’ is represented by a
woman Kali-worshiper who cannot hide her love and care for Jaisingha, the basic
human traits are presented no matter what the gender is. Then Ishita as a contrast
presents Bipradas and Kumu of ‘Jogajog’ in their original genders and thus
proving her point of view strongly. But at the end the tone is disturbed when
the young girl as Amal asks a very poignant question which betrays the basics
of Tagore’s views of life. Excepting this portion of the script the content has
been well dissertated.
As for the production it can be said to be flawless. There
were established actors as well as young talents and everyone did their parts
commendably. In spite of the hassles of
presenting a play that the groups are facing after the so-called renovation of
the Academy stage Ushnik did a well-done job. With limited props Somnath
Dutta’s stage design together with Joy Sen’s lighting plans did help the play
especially when bits of different pieces had to be presented in succession.
Music by Abul Chakraborty, too, helped in the run of the play. But the most
striking feature of the production has been the designing of the dresses of the
different characters. Dress designing had been done keeping the context in mind
and such meticulous observance is rarely seen in the productions even of
celebrated groups.
Lastly, it should be mentioned that the financial
support from the central government has certainly been well utilised.
