MARSHUMER EKDIN (trans. A Day in the Season) of Newtown Bratyajan: a tribute to Samaresh Basu

 

MARSHUMER EKDIN (trans. A Day in the Season) of Newtown Bratyajan: a tribute to Samaresh Basu

 

The centenary of Samaresh Basu passed off not with much fanfare but for a few literary programmes. The theatre world was not active either. I find two groups, both of the lesser type, have staged two plays based on his stories, on this occasion. They are Newtown Bratyajon with their MARSHUMER EKDIN, and Naihati’s Rangasena with their SHESH BASANTA. Credit should be given to them for having treaded a not too familiar path.

Newtown Bratyajon presented Sumitro Bandopadhyay’s adaptation of a short story by Samaresh Basu, MARSHUMER EKDIN under the direction of Debashis Roy at Madhusudan Mancha. I have seen their previous work and have an impression that with many a shortcoming this group strives to present their fare with sincerity.

Samaresh wrote this short story in 1951. Like his other works this story, too, is a portrayal of that section of the society who live their struggling life day-in and day-out. It is of course needless to say that this work too reflects his own experiences in his living-out his own life. after all these seventy-five years it is also futile to say that the picture he drew still remains true. Perhaps the backdrop has changed, the contexts have changed but the content and theme remain the same. The Bengali society, its culture, its intellectual horizon like the corner stone of his other writings, are present here too, with their glories.

A quite handsome young Nabin works in a theatre-jatra dress and requisition supplier’s shop. During the jatra season he stays back in the store-room of the shop with his other co-workers. As the income from his job in the shop is not much to maintain his family of three kids and his wife, he takes up a part-time job as a tabla-player, and also does a few stints as an actor for parties who come looking for a performer. He fails to provide his family with quality time as well as with sufficient cash, despite his utmost endeavours.  

The third wedded wife of the owner Bhanumoti, has a soft corner for Nabin, and is always concerned about the kids of Nabin, as she herself is childless. She buys new dresses for the kids and gives them to Nabin on the night of shasti of Duga puja. In the early morning the next day he returns to the shop to find everyone including the owner and his wife waiting for the police to come. One of his co-workers has hung himself in the store-room after being rejected by his lover.  

Sumitro has done a commendable job in adapting Samaresh keeping true to the unique flavour of the story-teller, though he had to edit, add and modify a few areas to bring the story with its nuances on to the stage. But this has not overshadowed the magical play of words of the litterateur. In presenting the characters in the mould of the story-teller he has kept the texture of the original in writing the dialogues, too. His addition of parts of old classical plays was a pleasant experience for the viewers. So was the short tabla piece by Nabin.    

Debashis has used a few of the recent practices in play-making, like the use of the LED lights, the use of smoke, or some choreographic representations in the soliloquy of Aurangzeb where the later talks of the ghosts of his brothers Dara and Suja. But unlike the recent trends he has not taken refuge to gimmicks in constructing his scenes. The play gets a smooth progression, thus. In the first scene the store with the adjacent shop is shown, but from the next scene onwards the perspective is changed. The suicide is shown in a suggestive way though a little more imagination was wanting. But the scene that had damaged the total production was that of the prostitute quarter mainly due to very poor performance. On the other hand, the short scene of the conjugal relation of Nabin and his wife was a treat for the viewers.       

Subhankar De’s lights and Swapan Bandopadhyay’s background score were laudable. Surajit Pal’s make-up job was equally creditable. Dress designing also needs to be appreciated.

Sunny Chattopadyay’s Nabin is the main-stay of the production. I have not seen any earlier work of this young actor, and for me his Nabin is a revelation. He is such an accomplished performer that one is marvelled at his range of performance. His easy movements, unhesitating dialogue deliveries with accurate intonations need to be applauded. When he is performing in the classic plays, he is more dramatic yet not crossing over to over doing the parts. His tabla playing certainly adds a creditable point for the production. The description of the appearance of the character Nabin as described by the author is so very similar to that of Sunny, that one may tend to think that Samaresh had built Nabin in the image of Sunny perhaps!  Chanchal Bhattacharya as Guinram, or Subir Ghosh as the shop owner, or Bijoya Karmakar as Nabin’s wife did their jobs well. Others were Susmita Bhattacharya, Malay Pal, Sourabh De, Riju Basu and Sahana Chattopadhyay.

 

The next play for our discussion will be EKTA ISHKOOL (trans. A School) of Chakdaha Natyajan.

SAANKO (trans: Footbridge) of Belgharia Rooptapas: A tribute to Ritwik Kumar Ghatak

 

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.        

A FRESH NEW START

 

A FRESH NEW START

After a very long long time I have once again come back to my blog. The last blog that I wrote was in November 2024.

Before going any further I would like to apologise to my readers for being so unfaithful. Along with this I should also tell my readers the reason for my being absent for so long and also why I have decided to come back to my blog-writing. Along with this I would also like to state that I have also decided to write my blogs regularly this time, without any discontinuity or long absence, as I have been doing since I started this website in 2011. In other words, this is an explanation for being absent and also for my returning back with a fresh new start.

As most of my readers know that I have been regularly writing out review articles in Bengali for the fortnightly Desh magazine for the last twenty-one odd years. And this engagement together with other writings as well as some very personal preoccupations that had kept me pretty much on my heels so as to get very little time for concentrating on blog-writing. Lately things have changed both in my personal life as well as in my related world outside. And with the changed bearings my daily world has also altered. So, I thought it prudent to give my blog a fresh start.   

I have been associated with Desh since 1984 – since the legendary editor Sagarmoy Ghosh asked me to do film-review articles for his magazine. After a stint I stopped writing as I had some differences of opinion with Sagarda regarding an article. In the mean time I was doing theatre reviews for The Telegraph, The Metropolitan newspapers. Then in 2006 Harsha Dutta the then editor of Desh asked me to do theatre reviews for his magazine. And so, I have been doing this work uninterrupted for the last twenty-one years. And I fear I am the seniormost theatre reviewer around.

Lately I find that things have changed in the running of the magazine. Once Desh had a tradition of regular cinema reviews together with theatre and music, apart from art. But then the organisation, planning and management of the magazine was different. And Desh was then more of a weekly literary and cultural journal. However, with the changing times the character of the readership has also changed. So, Desh, too, is different from what it was. Theatre had a place of pride in the ‘Shilpa-Sangskriti’ section of the magazine. In the recent past because of space crunch the reviews used to take time to be published – a couple of months at the most. And I was told to restrict my articles to 400-450 words. But this restriction of number of words could not do justice to a performance. I tried to keep my reviews within 700 words. In the very recent times, the scenario has taken a drastic change, sort of. Selected films are reviewed in every issue even of Hindi and English language ones. Of course, these are all policy matters of the house to which Desh belongs, and no one should have any grievances.

However, my point is that the theatre groups that strive hard to put up a show with all their energy and resources, are denied of their legitimate demand of their works being reviewed, as the magazine had accepted their prayers for a review. And naturally they eagerly wait to see their works being discussed in print. And this is truer for the off-Kolkata or off-off-Kolkata groups, who are struggling to get a foothold in this competing world, and equally for the not-so-known or established groups, These groups do not get frequent opportunities to stage in Kolkata. And moreover, majority of the shows have almost no box-office returns, and so have no financial gains. They still do theatre for the sheer love of it. So, for them the only return is a few words about them in the printed media, which might get them some sponsorships or other assistance for the future productions. At the same time, it is also true that apart from Desh there are no other periodicals or newspapers where drama reviews are published on a regular basis.

But the situation at present is not very enterprising. In the recent issues I find the reviews of the plays that were staged in February last are yet to see the light of the day. Since February till July, I have reviewed fourteen productions. It is my practice to jot down the articles and mail them to Desh within a couple of days of my seeing the productions. The fourteen pieces seem to be gathering dust on the editor’s desk. I have also figured out that the groups who had prayed to Desh for a review of their works also seem to be reluctant to enquire with Desh why has there been so long a delay for the reviews to be published.

Till date 632 review articles written by me have been published in the magazine in this stint of twenty-one years. But under the prevailing circumstances I doubt how long will my reviews would be published in Desh. To be frank, a sense of remorse has taken over me, and I personally feel obligated to the groups for this inordinate delay. I have decided instead to write in my blog the reviews of the plays. At the beginning I would devote on the fourteen productions the reviews of which are yet to be published in Desh.

The fourteen productions are listed below:

SANKO of Belgharia Rooptapas staged on 27 February

MARSUMER EKDIN of Newtown Bratyajon staged on 6 March

EKTA ISKOOL of Chakdaha Natyajon staged on 18 March

STREER PATRA of Nirbak Abhinay Akademi staged on 22 March 

KUNDUBABU of Sayak staged on 3 May

PRATHAM PARTHA of Sansriti staged on 13 May

SESH BASANTA of Naihati Rangasena staged on 27 May

JATRA GOPAL of Chadaha Natyajon staged on 28 May

RUPANTAR of Paramik staged on 1 June

ABU HOSAIN of Nandiranga staged on 10 June

SESH MATHATA KATA PARAR AAGE of Chaturtha Matra staged on 14 June

LAGAN CHAND of Thealight staged on 20 June

CORNER PLOT of Rangalok staged on 5 July

I should mention here that on 7 March I went to see GADAIBABU of Theatre Workshop, and the discussion of which was in the above list. But Desh had published it out of turn in its 17 August issue. So, I am not including it as my blog material.

Apart from these I have seen a few more plays – six I suppose – this year not for review purpose for on behalf of Desh. But unfortunately, I will not do justice to them if I rummage through my very fragile memory and try to discuss them now. These are PUNARJANMA of Anya Theatre, HEMLAT THE PRINCE of GARANHATA of Gayashpur Sanglap, ANTIGONE of Sansriti, RAMANUJ of Jadavpur Manthan, BAAKI ITIHAS of Nirbak Abhinoy Akademi, MORCHE PARA AALO of Shudrak, and TUMI THIK JODI BHABO TUMI THIK of Ancham Baidik.    

The first of the reviews that I would be posting in my next Blog will be SANKO (trans. Footbridge) staged by Rooptapas of Belgharia.