KUNDUBABU (trans. Mr Kundu) of Sayak: a magnum opus in
their repertoire of productions (staged on 3 May 2026)
[Debashis Mazumdar has informed me that the Hindi presentation of STREER
PATRA about which I had mentioned in my last Blog, was directed by Prof.
Anuradha Kapoor. This piece of information was unknown to me till this treasure
chest of information of Bangla theatre, informed me in WA. Checking out my
discussion of the production that was staged in the Nandikar Festival on 20
December 2011 and published in the 2nd March 2012 issue of Desh, I
find I have not mentioned the name of the director, and rather hinted that
Seema herself had designed the production. I stand corrected. Thanks to
Debuda.]
In my
experience as a theatre viewer for over five decades, I have come across quite
a few productions which from the very beginning give the impression that may be
some unforgettable occurrence is waiting when the curtain rises. Most of the
times I get well rewarded. That happened exactly so when I was waiting in my
seat for the curtain of the Academy of Fine Arts stage to part for Sayak’s latest
production KUNDUBABU. As I waited the whole auditorium was reverberating
with an overture the marching tune of which seemed very familiar yet could not
be immediately identifiable. Shortly after the play started, the original
source of the symphony like music was revealing to me. I questioned myself – have
I heard such a befitting overture before?
This
production of Sayak under the stewardship of Meghnad Bhattacharya has been a very
significant and self-defying departure from their trademark productions. The
repertoire of works of Sayak for so many years has a definite character of its
own, that makes the group’s works accepted by the general audience as a whole. A
section has always been there who sneered at the ‘non-intellectual’ fares Sayak
caters. But this group of spectators are bound to sit up and ponder if they
care to see the production. I believe this production is their magnum opus.
This I say keeping in mind their record-breaking popular production of DAYEBADDHA.
This is for the first time in their fifty-three years of theatre life they have
staged a fully political play. Meghnad’s political commitments never got
reflected in his previous works. This time it was different. His plays very
strongly did advocate the motto of the group – to speak about life. But in this
production, it was uttered not as a well-made play or by doling out melodrama. In
this production one finds they unequivocally pronounced their statement standing
firmly on a strong realistic platform.
The drama
written by Arijit Biswas is set fifteen years ago when the Left force lost its
power. It talks about a septuagenarian district CPI(M) party whole-timer who at
the debacle of the party, holds on to the ideals of the party which is treated allegorically
in the play as the party office building that was donated to them by a
sympathiser and where he stays. He together with a handful of common men resist
the goons of the party in power who tries to get hold of the office building.
The outcome is not relevant for the play, but the main focus of the drama is
the resistance of the common man.
It was
mere coincidence that the next day of the premiere of this play the TMC government
fell with the BJP taking over the reins of the state with a mandate of the
people. When Meghnad chose the drama and muted the staging of it, he did not
imagine, perhaps, that this would take a different intonation when it came on
to the stage. Theatre once again proved that it played though however small it
may be, a significant role in building the history of the nation, and to
analyse it, too.
The play
shows how the turn coats take advantage of the political situation to lap up
the cream that comes up during any such turmoil. They keep the revisionist
bourgeoise character intact. Then there is the obsequious police force. On the
other side, the play depicts the morality, truthfulness, and the relentless fight
for survival of the common man. The drama has a very strong realistic texture
that does not have even an iota of sensationalization. Even in the section of
the ghost the playwright gave it a non-supernatural look. The dialogues even have
less verbosity.
Meghnad
with all his theatrical wisdom have masterly mounted the play with a complete
faith in the theme of the drama. And so, we find he has emphasised not on the
progression of the storyline, but on the very soul of the play. We thus find that
in the putting up of each scene he is careful not to lose the rhythm and flow of
the play as the story developes. His complete realistic treatment that goes in
unison with the plot has involved the viewers to participate psychologically in
the fight against the negative force. In his mounting of the last scene, he has
given it a metaphorical tone, and that gives the production a theatrical ending
of sorts.
Once again,
he has reiterated the truth which is the mainstay of all Sayak productions,
that ‘acting or performance’ is the heart of theatre. In this work too, he has
fortified this department so as to give the production its finesse. In his
portrayal of Kundubabu he has taken the performance to an astonishing level of
representative acting. He has always been a master of silent acting and here
too, Kundubabu’s wounds within together with the will to resist have found a
new language in his silent expressions as well through his physical movements
and postures.
Every
other member of the group has done the jobs to perfection, including those in
the sundries like Gautam Sardar as servant Hebo, or veteran Bharati Das as a
protesting woman. Samiran Bhattacharya as the lumpen had a challenging job of
not over doing the part. He did it perfectly well. Veteran actor Biswanath Roy
too, was a complete success with his measured movements and an animated voice
in portraying the ghost. Ashis Ghosh as the business man Bireswar with his
immaculate deliveries and use of the stage was a perfect example of realistic
acting. Another experienced actor Runa Mukherjee has kept up to her name in the
role of Amrita, the wife of Bireswar. She with her limited scope could perfectly
convey the character’s tensions. The turncoat poet Probodh was well done by
Prantik Ghosh. Mentions should be made of Anamika Bhattacharya as the daughter
of a slain party comrade and that of Indrajita Chakraborty as his wife, Subrata
Bhawal as a Party member, or Samir Deb as the OC, and Kartik Maitra as the
District Secretary. Others did their parts as directed.
Shoumik-Piyali’s
stage was not up to the mark, though Somnath Chatterjee’s lights were
satisfactory, especially in the ghost sequences. The almost legendary make-up
artist Panchanan Manna’s art job which has always been an inseparable part of
Sayak’s productions was missing this time, though Md Ali’s job had no
complains.
Apart
from the acting department of the production, music and background score played
a very significant role. This section was handled by none other than the senior
most music designer of Bengali theatre Murari Roychoudhury. This work would
remain as a treasure in the memory bank of the audience. He adopted the tune of
The Internationale to write the overture that created a dramatic audio-space in
the auditorium. To build up his music-scape he used Mohini Choudhury’s ‘Muktir
mandir’ and Salil Choudhury’s ‘Gram-nagar-maath-paathar’, as well as
one of the songs of the Bangladesh liberation ‘Shahar gramer ajana thikana’.
As his background music he used parts of the tune of ‘Hei samalo’.
Oh, what
an experience it was! Thanks to Sayak, Meghnad Bhattacharya and of course to Murari
Roychoudhury.
My next
Blog would be a discussion of Sansriti’s PRATHAM PARTHA staged on 13 May
2026.
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