SAANKO (trans: Footbridge) of Belgharia
Rooptapas: A tribute to Ritwik Kumar Ghatak
While Ritwik Kumar Ghatak’s centenary year that had begun in November 2025 is passing by, the Bengali stage has but contributed very little in this celebration of the only member of the Trinity of Indian cinema who have had a deep-rooted connection with the theatre world, a reflection of which we find in his films – may it be in the elements that make up a scene like the framing, the lighting, the movements of the shots, or in the storyline itself. Like for instance in the 1961 masterpiece Komal Gandhar, my most favourite of the Ghatak films, one finds the crumbling world of the group theatre movement, as well as the human component of a struggling group. There are stagings of three plays in the film and the pieces of the stagings that the viewers get to see show signs of a very futuristic modern play-making. The film also has frames that gives the viewer an impression of a stage composition. The film ends, most unlike Ghatak films, on a promising note! Maybe because this playwright-playmaker did have faith in the struggle that has kept the Bengali stage kicking despite many a hindrance since perhaps the 1876 Control of the Dramatic Performance Act. He believed in the immortality of the Bengali stage in the backdrop of the rich cultural heritage of Bengal. Only a person initially baptised in theatre could have possibly create such moments on the screen.
Doesn’t one find a sub-surface similarity of Ghatak
films with those of Ingmar Bergman who also had had deep-rooted relations with
the stage.
More on this perhaps some other time.
A couple
of groups have staged plays on the person himself, one (Chetana’s Meghe
Dhaka Ritwik) very laudably excavate the artistic entity of Ritwik
Kumar, while the other (Spandan Peoples Theatre’s Ritwik Ekti Nakshetrar
Naam) goofed up the filmmaker’s very purpose of creating his genre of
cinema!
A lesser-known
group, Belgharia Rooptapas on the other hand has done a very commendable job in
staging Ritwik Kumar’s play Saanko, one of the plays that he had
written during his days with the IPTA. The recent partition of the country had
just doled out its miseries and the ‘50s saw a group of religious fanatics
bathing the city of Calcutta in blood of fellow men. His plays were like heart
wrenching catharsis of the unsurmountable agony he had to bear because of the
partition that had made his homeland a distant foreign country.
The play
begins in Calcutta with a fratricide based on hatred of a different religion,
and ends in a remote village in East Pakistan where a Hindu youth had come to
visit the family of the Muslim youth killed in Calcutta. This educated, gentle
youth in a very impulsive unguarded moment had become a consort in the killing
of the Muslim youth. Since then, he had been suffering from repentance and has
come to the parents of the Muslim youth to ask for forgiveness. The sister of
the deceased who is a political activist and a United Front worker fighting
against the Muslim League, imbibe in him a dream to build a secular world.
The
dramatist Ritwik Kumar brings about in his way, as would be seen later in his
films, a mellifluous melodrama in each of his characters. The character of the
mother is typically built as the iconic mother image that is a recurring dramatic
element in his later films. The killer who is impetuous, questions in
repentance who is to be held responsible for this fate of his. The playwright
having faith in Man and his virtues tries to build up a utopian world of camaraderie
standing firm against the ruthless backdrop of strife and bloodshed.
The
playmaker Kaushik Ghosh had a tough challenge to translate the script on to the
stage. A slight unguarded moment would have made the staging an ordinary
melodramatic TV serial. The test was to portray the soul of the drama rather
than telling the story. And if it is missed at any point of time, may be
unwittingly, would have betrayed the sole purpose of the playwright in penning
the play. Kaushik has been more than successful in doing his job. His mounting
of each scene smacked of professional smartness. Ritwik Kumar had tuned every
character to a high pitch, and so, Kaushik in his attempt to balance out, had
to present them in exaggeration but in a very subdued way. And that is a tough
job, indeed. The contradiction in the character of the Hindu youth, or the
belief and faith in human beings of the bereaved mother, or for that matter,
the unwavering political belief of the sister, or the mental conflict of the
killer are portrayed firmly yet subtly. On the other hand, the blatancy of the instigator
of the murderous act, a distinguished person of the neighbourhood, is presented
in stark contrast.
Each of the actors has ably done their job in the
right earnest, so as to interpret the playmaker’s design. Each of them was
careful not to overdo their parts so as to keep the melodramatic texture of the
play. The veteran thespian Sumita Basu in the role of the mother once again
proved her worth. The delivery of her lines with the perfect play of the tone
depicted the firmness of the mother to tackle the unfortunate situation as well
as keeping alive her natural maternal caring self. It is sad that not often do
we come across her work these days, but it is absolutely certain that this
particular work would be discussed for long. Another of the actors is not much
seen, too, though this extremely powerful actor is a prized possession of the
Bengali stage. He is Kajal Sambhu. His portrayal of the killer had the
undertone of the tediousness of an impulsive criminal. Sumit Kumar Roy as the
Hindu youth had to bear a heavy workload and he successfully executed the role.
The sense of guilt in the character was well conveyed by his delivery of lines
as well as his use of the stage. Ayan Mondal as the brother was good. Abhi
Sengupta as the local bigshot was particularly cautious to avoid overdoing his
role. Tanushree Saha as the sister was a bit stiff but did her part as directed
by the maker. Sunny Barik was good as the Muslim youth. His rendering of a bhatiyali
was commendable, so was Sumit Kumar’s song. In other sundry roles were Tarun
Chakravarty, Anjan Roychoudhury and Gautam Chakravarty.
Bilu Dutt’s excellent stage gave the production its
visual richness. His creation of the courtyard along the riverside had
literally brought the house in a village in East Bengal on to the stage of Academy
of Fine Arts. It was a gem of a work that would be mentioned for a long time to
come. The unpronounced poetry that Ritwik Kumar had penned in his script took
shape in Bilu’s job. Soumen Chakravarty’s lights was a perfect consort to
Bilu’s stage, and together they became a character of the play. And last but
not the least it was Abhijit Acharya’s background score that had wrapped the
production in an unimpeachable Ritwik-ambience even before curtains rose. The
use of Indian classical mixed with bhatiyali, and the tunes of Tagore’s Keno
cheye achho go Maa and Tora je ja bolis bhai was simply
mesmerizingly haunting for the viewers. Dress designs were done by Triparna Das
and Aparna Das, while Bappaditya Pramanik did the make-over.
In the present times when radical Hindutva is baring
its teeth and raising its fangs, this production of Rooptapas is very much desirable.
The next Blog would be MARSHUMER EKDIN (trans. A Day in the Season) of Newtown Bratyajan staged on 6 March 2026.
