Samaresh Basu’s Prajāpati caused a sensation soon after publication in 1967, when it faced a lawsuit for obscenity, the courts ruling in favour of the prosecution and banning it. (I wonder how a stage production of it at Minerva Theatre escaped the ban in 1974.) Ultimately, as late as 1985, the Supreme Court overturned the judgment on appeal. It became a signal case in Bengali literature for what constitutes obscenity, well worth revisiting in Srijak’s dramatized adaptation to mark their own silver jubilee as well as Basu’s birth centenary.
The antihero, Sukhen, comes from a background devoid of love and imbibes the lack of moral values in his family. Given to drink, womanizing and hooliganism, he enters college politics but grows emotionally attached to a fellow student, Shikha, the only ray of positivity in his life. His two brothers, leaders in rival political parties, try to draft him but, when he refuses, plan to do away with him. Seeing a lifeline in Shikha, he attempts to reform himself and get a job but the local industrialist distrusts him, eventually sealing his fate. The natural acting of Kajal Shambhu (Sukhen) and Sujata Sarkar (Shikha) convinces, delineating a sorry picture of social conditions that breed lumpenization and in turn assist politicians to exploit the frustration of alienated youths, a situation that still obtains in our state.
Debasis Basu’s script unusually maintains parallel twin threads: dramatizing a few key episodes from the novel with scenes from the trial (following the transcripts now readily accessible), at which renowned writer-academicians Buddhadeva Bose and Naresh Guha appeared as witnesses for the defence. It surprised me to see the professors, normally in Indian attire, at court in jackets and trousers, but Debasis confirms that he had consulted a photo of them from a newspaper covering the legal proceedings. However, Sujata Sarkar’s other costume designs, particularly of the brothers and young girl, certainly did not belong to the Sixties. Likewise, Arun Mukherjee’s inclusion of “Ye shām mastāni” (1970) on the soundtrack is anachronistic.
7 July 2025