2023 marked the birth sesquicentennial of one trailblazing artist, Gauhar Jaan, and the centenary of another, Mrinal Sen, who formed the subjects of two separate theatrical tributes in Bengali. The call to see these shows came to me this month, after their recent revivals.
Several Gauhar Jaan biodramas in various languages have graced local stages, including Akhor’s Jān-e-Kalkattā in Bengali fifteen years ago, where Anandee Basu replicated her multigenre and multilingual singing prowess over two hours. Arpita Chatterjee follows suit in her shorter, solo My Name Is Jaan, but she is let down by the total absence of fact-checking in the script by director Abanti Chakraborty and producer Barun Das. History gets tossed into the wings, misinforming viewers who don’t know any better. This problem assumes much greater import because the production has travelled internationally and nationally, causing widespread perpetuation of errors. Among many blunders, the worst are that Gauhar was the first Indian singer to be recorded (that honour goes to Shoshimukhi, actress in Amarendra Dutta’s Classic Theatre, three days before Gauhar; see this article) and that William Gaisberg recorded her (he was the brother of Fred Gaisberg, the true pioneer). If you want a surprisingly strong musical evening, go hear Arpita. But don’t believe all the “information” that you hear.
Spandan People’s Theatre’s Padātik Mrināl pays homage to Sen with a play (writer uncredited) in five locations: a university where he addresses a film-studies class, his home where he interacts with Satya Bandopadhyay, two shoots on the set of Antareen and outdoors in Telangana, and a biopic in-the-works on him that makes a rousing plea to put all protest, dissent and activism under the left banner. Despite credible acting by Prabir Ghosh in the lead, director Samudra Guha fails to curb all kinds of mistakes. At the factual level, he places “Guyana” in Africa and does not distinguish between Turkestan and Turkey. In terms of plausibility, it is most unrealistic to see students interrupt Sen so often and so brazenly while he speaks. And the cast mispronounce merrily—Saadat Manto becomes “Sadaat”, martyr becomes “martier”, and the names of films and directors are enunciated terribly.
30 December 2024