BRATYA BASU RETURNS WITH A BANG!!!

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.