ABU HOSSAIN of Nandiranga: a gem of a work that cajoles one to see it once more

 

ABU HOSSAIN of Nandiranga: a gem of a work that cajoles one to see it once more (staged on 10 June 2026)

Typical musical comedies are the rarest of the rare genre of all the productions in today’s Bengali theatre. Whenever one speaks of this particular category of theatre the first name that comes to one’s mind are those of Girish Chandra’s ABU HOSSAIN and Kshiroprasad’s ALIBABA, both based from the Arabian Nights. One such scarce modern-day representative of the genre penned by Badal Sircar, as a sort of a modern-day adaptation or as he himself said, ‘distortion’ of Giris Chandra’s hilarious musical play.

Witnessing Nandiranga’s superb production of the same, a few thoughts fleeted by. I remember seeing Shatabdi’s production in the early 70’s which was perhaps the last proscenium work by Sircar. But though that memory has faded, what still remains is the scintillating performance of Pankaj Munshi, one of the most decent theatrical personalities, who left us a few days back. And of course I recollect the pleasant exuberance that excited me for long. With these sweet memories I even today, remember the resentment that filled me during those final years of my school, when all the blockbuster Bengali & Hindi films had to flood the cinema halls of Calcutta. Naturally, it was surely not possible to see most of the films, but the songs thereof, had no barriers to filter in via the radio, and the Puja pandals. Such were the tunes and the lyrics that they stayed with us day in and day out, and as a logical fall-out studies hampered. I can vouch that those of us who appeared for the finals of school in the end of the 60’s and in the beginning of the 70’s could have peaked their careers if such distractions were not there. Certainly, if those songs had not been composed, we would have done …. God knows what!

And Badal-babu used the chartbuster tunes in his play, and that did the trick. He wrote the play in the jatra-pala form. There are numerous songs in the play, while Ghose had used light classical tunes, Sircar has used the tunes of the then popular film songs and folk songs, thus making the play a unique parody, of sorts.

Nandiranga under the able direction of Titas Thakur has kept the tunes of those ever-green songs. And for this viewer it was once again a revisit to the past excitement. Take for instance many a song, 18 to 19 I suppose like ‘Chunri samal gori’ or ‘Dil ko dekho chehera na dekho’ or ‘Aapko pahele bhi kanhi dekha haye’ or ‘Peyar hua haye jabse’, or else ‘Aami kon pathe je choli’, or ‘Pagla garaod kothaye aachhe’ or ‘Aami je jalsa ghare’ or ‘Aami shree shree bhajahori manna’ just caused a euphoria hard to describe.

It was wonderful to see how about fifteen artistes enliven the stage for two and a half hours. And each and every moment of these hours was saturated in music. The smooth change of scenes, and keeping up a speedy rhythm all through speak volumes about Thakur’s play-making skills. These days it has become almost customary to have the players stamping and stomping the stage, as an attempt in the exhibition of ‘performance’. Though in this process ‘acting’ takes a back seat. But for a refreshing change the viewer gets to see good acting even in sundry characters, like those of butties, courtiers, guards, pedestrians, apart from dancers, companions and singers. Hence to keep up the spirit of the script, each actor has to do 7 to 8 roles. And here only one could feel the total dedication and earnestness of every actor to give their best. Shubhankar Bhattacharya as the old Badshah, with a bold voice throw, immaculate diction, and the ability to sing songs need to be applauded, at the very beginning. During the change of scenes, the director makes him sing a couple of lines of the main song on which the parody has been created, on the forestage while shifting and other jobs are undertaken in the back. Arup Mukhopadhyay’s Ujir was better performed than that of the Hakim. Suman Sinha Roy had little to do as Haroon, but was as relaxed as he usually is in his other performances. Shipra Pal as the Begum was also as easy as she typically is. Lipi Saha as Abu’s mother and Mou Roychoudhury as Roshena did their individual roles perfectly. Binoy Dalui, Anirban Deb, Raju Das, Indra Mali and Sukanta Shil did their parts well as the five madmen.                 

It was a real exposé for me to watch one of young acting talents of the Bengali stage Saptarshi Bhowmik, whose quite a few works I have had the opportunity to see. His Abu simply floored the viewers watching in awe the energy level he could attain. He transformed the acting space of the Academy of Fine Arts’ stage into the courtyard of his own house, as if. With his body language and gestures he presented the character in its perfect colour and tone. His diction and vocal modulation could bring the words of Sircar unambiguously to the spectators. The director could be seen to be particular regarding delivery of lines in regard to all characters. The cues and scanning have been done neatly for all the characters of the play.

Another vital sector of this production is the music department which was beautifully handled by Subhajit Das. In the tradition of Sircar form, the musicians are stationed on the stage performing as accompanists to the songs sung by the actors, or doing the background score. On the harmonium was the veteran Subir Sanyal, and accompanying him was Soudeep Chakraborty in the percussions, Neelargha Dutta on the banjo and Srinath Mukherjee in the drums. Vocal support was given by Ritambhara Ghosh. Lights were done by Sadhan Pari, but there were quite a number of slips in his job! Bilu Dutta’s stage was a neat job. The dance compositions and choreography need a round of claps.      

As is the common trait in today’s theatre shows, there were a handful of spectators present to see this non-celebrity presentation of Nandiranga. It is unfortunate. No, I did not express this sympathy for the present situation of the Bengali stage, but for those who did not (care to) see such a gem of a work.

 

I will come back next with SESH MATHATA KATA PARAR AAGE of Chaturtha Matra staged on 14 June 2026.