TWO TAGORE PIECES BY TWO WOMAN DIRECTORS

TWO TAGORE PIECES BY TWO WOMAN DIRECTORS

After a surfeit of Tagore based productions for the last two years the viewers had to some extent developed an antipathy, sort of, towards such productions. And to be candid the productions mostly did not merit much appreciation and were a ploy to acquire some kind of a dole from government agencies on the occasion of the sesquicentennial celebrations of the Bard. 

Yet another and I believe perhaps the last of the crop has been staged by Uhinee in the form of an adapted version of RAJA. Tagore himself had done a ‘stage-friendly’ version of this very difficult play and had christened it as ARUPRATAN. One wonders why this modified form of the play was not attempted by the team and instead an adaptation by Debashis Majumdar was done. This group a few months earlier had not very successfully staged a show based on different writings of the Poet (MORE OF TAGORE blog dt 5.12.12). This time, too, the production failed to impress the viewers.  Nothing seemed to click right and even director Adrija Dasgupta the pivot of the team failed miserably in performing both in delivering her dialogues as well as in singing the songs. Sheer exertion seemed to have taken its toll. She is definitely capable of better performance as have been proved in her earlier works. Her directorial work had redeeming features in the beginning though the use of the aisle of the auditorium speaks of no novelty. But the absence of any innovative elements in direction as the play progressed made the production a very dull run-of-the-mill exercise on the stage. The use of the different Tagore songs could not alleviate the plight of the viewers.

On the other hand PARULBON-E ROBI by Nirbak Obhinoy Akademi under the very able direction of Suranjana Dasgupta was a real treat for the viewers. This production, of course, is not one of the last crops of Tagore euphoria and certainly is not a result of an exercise to join in the band-wagon. I missed the earlier shows that were very limited in number, and so I made it this time. And I have been rewarded. The production may not be termed as a play in the strict sense as there are no fixed characters except that of Parul and there are no defined scenes, as such. The form depicted by Suranjana is rather a visual transcription of the correspondences that took place between an unknown young lady Parul Roy and the Poet during the last six to seven years of the latter’s life. Sharmila Moitra’s brilliant script, worked out basically from the letters together with Tagore’s other writings and different songs, brought out yet another facet of the Poet’s personality as well as the predicaments of young Parul coming from a very ordinary Bengali home with the strapping of the typical lower middle class values. She is portrayed bereft of any emotional innuendoes as is Tagore portrayed without the bogey of reverence that is usually found in such portrayals. Suranjana’s innovative powers have given shape to the script and thus an excellent production is that what the viewers are rewarded with. Every one of the actors did commendably and the co-ordination between them brought out the meaning of the moments admirably. Kathakali as Parul was superb in all respects of acting. She was so free in her deliveries, her movements, her use of space, and of course, her songs interspersed between her dialogues that viewers would certainly remember her work. The songs were executed perfectly by the actors and the liberties taken did not exceed limits. Sayan Bandopadhyay’s songs were an asset to the production as was the beautiful moments created by the director.

P.S. Theatre Workshop instituted Satyen Mitra Award for best original play for the year 2012 was awarded to Sharmila Moitra for PARULBON-E ROBI. Being a member of the jury I fully endorsed in the jury meeting  the view of the majority i.e. two of the three jury members and nominated her for the award though I had not seen the play till then. Fortunately before the date of the award giving ceremony I had the opportunity to see the play. I once again endorsed the views of the jury with a capital E after seeing the play. Though it is not a drama in the strictest sense I believe that Sharmila deserves the award for her originality in scripting the Tagore-Parul episode. So, I congratulate Sharmila Moitra for achieving this prestigious award.