DAMINI- HEY : a Sayak production

DAMINI- HEY : a Sayak production

The Bengali theatre scene in the present times has a number of very brilliant productions to boast of and one such is Sayak’s latest, DAMINI-HEY, a play written by Chandan Sen from two short stories by Amar Mitra.  The viewers were treated to a very superbly done play that gave them a reason to believe in positive thinking and also to have the pleasure of acknowledging the self-esteem of the protagonist, a young girl, who fights all odds to keep her head high. Meghnad Bhattacharya takes Sayak once again to cross yet another milestone in their journey to reach new destinations of purposeful theatre.

Chandan’s play has a storyline in order to deliver a very strong message on the Indian philosophy of ethics and morality, and that gives the play a parable-touch which is a pretty rare genre in play-writing, no doubt. Chandan as a playwright has a definite style of his own and has since long, carved out a niche of his own, in the Bengali drama world. His plays lately have deep philosophical contents that force the viewers to sit up and think. But no play can reach out to the people sitting in the auditorium unless the imagination of the maker of the play gives it the shape he wants. The play that the viewers get to see is the end result of an intensive intellectual exercise that the director coordinates with the dramatist. The director is the key person who visualises the ultimate stage product and decides on how things are to synchronize and fall into place like the jig-saw puzzle. This is adequately evident in the present production. Meghnad is one of the few directors who do their homework in absolute earnest. And that is one of the key factors why his works get the blessings of the box-office in spite of the absence of celebrity actors apart from himself.

Meghnad’ designing of the play is simple and is bereft of any gimmick or other contrivance that might stun the viewers and generate a sense of awe, and thereby escape from the finer points of presentation of the play. His way of communicating with his viewers is direct and he believes in presenting the play in its truest structure. He has very craftily mixed the proscenium form with the folk form and thus has been successful in creating a unique ethnicity in his presentation which certainly is different in form from the earlier productions of Sayak. Every actor did his or her bit perfectly and so the stage remained vibrant all through. Another aspect that needs mention is that, the total coordination on the stage was a treat to enjoy. Kathakali, one of the most promising young talents on the Bengali stage did a scintillating job as the young protagonist. It was astonishing to see her take such a huge workload. Biswanath Roy, Pradip Das and Uttam Dey as three old men of three generations were equally outstanding as was Subrata Bhowal as the Pradhan. Meghnad in a short supporting role once again proved his class. The songs created by Subhendu Maity with an apt background score by Swapan Badopadhyay have contributed immensely to bring about a rustic flavour to the presentation. The stage design by Soumik-Piyali has very suitably brought in the paranormal undertone of the content, though Joy Sen’s lights failed to deliver the desired effects. Kudos should pour in for Panchanan Manna’s make-up job.