BRATYA BASU RETURNS WITH A BANG!!!
For the last three years almost, the
theatre viewers of the Bengali stage lived in apprehension of losing the most
talented playwright-and-actor-and-director of this generation in the mire of
politics and related administrative responsibilities. Bratyajan in the mean
time had produced four better-to-be-forgotten plays after its inaugural grand
success with RUDDHASANGEET. With their fifth production they have once again a
gate-crashing play to boast of. CINEMAR MOTO is Bratya Basu’s latest and he is
back in his typical style and with a Bang, of course, though the play is surely
of a different character than his previous works. The play is a tribute, on the
other hand, to the Indian cinema (actually the Indian fiction films)
celebrating its centenary year.
Bratya’s plays are unique in the sense that
they play with the psyche of the viewers and as such there are unforeseen
twists, bends and curves that jolt the viewers and make them sit up. His
characters are not very uncommon and they communicate with the viewers easily
but it is the unexpected trait in their natures or in the situations that gives
the Bratyaesque colour to his plays. Though he has his signature well etched in
the present play especially in his dialogues, the structure and form did not
match up to his previous works, particularly in his distribution and interplay
of his characters. The character of Dipayan played by Pijush Ganguly could have
been made to come out of the mould of a narrator of the history of cinema in
our country and contribute to the development of the drama. The role of
Maitreyi played by Poulomi Bose has been underplayed by the dramatist and could
have been made to play an anti-thesis to the mother played with her typical
mannerisms by Anasua Majumdar. The final scene of the son and the mother is
undoubtedly one of the best examples of theatrical climactic situations viewers
have not seen for long. Bratya, the playwright, raises the tension to a
crescendo where the viewers are treated with the best of theatrical moments
without having the excesses of melodrama. This is, perhaps, by far the most
excellent performance of Bratya, the actor, on stage. The way he carried the
role of the son throughout the play would remain in the annals of Bengali
theatre as an illustration of method-acting at its best.
The production can boast of being an ideal
one for exhibiting meticulously planned stage venture. A very imaginative yet
very logical planning by Bratya, the director, could produce such magnificent
results on the stage. The use of slides in the manner of the magic lanterns and
the use of old film songs intermittently speak of creative ingenuity of the
director.
This was a play that would be discussed for
long by the theatre freaks of Bengal and would contribute in asserting faith in
one of the most loved and admired theatre persons of today.
