Time once again to record the activities of Bengali groups outside Kolkata. The two reviewed in this column demonstrate technical standards indistinguishable from their metropolitan counterparts, proving that the so-called city–town theatrical divide no longer exists.
Sandipani by Pragati (Liluah) presents Anirban Sen’s depiction of Che Guevara in Africa framed within a contemporary Bengali political discussion. The latter situation looks contrived because a professor these days would rarely quiz his pupils about their politics, while Sen selects too schematically the students’ ideologies to suit his plot. The real play occurs in the strong second half, inside the professor’s home, where Sen has the courage to show the domestic problem of Communist men who treated their wives as secondary support staff and did not allow them self-fulfilment.
Che himself does not convince mainly because for such an icon, one needs a larger-than-life stage presence, which Susnato Bhattacharjee cannot muster. I hear that for this reason Pragati replaced him with Sumit Kumar Roy. But even his wife, Aleida (Garbita Ghosh), has not been written well, for why does she tease him with an elaborate ruse if she then says she speaks only the truth? Anjan Banerjee, appearing later, steals the show as the officious Mr Todi, but Sen should seriously rethink the soft target of stigmatizing Hindi speakers as BJP followers. Ironically, director Abir Ghosh adopts the English pronunciation of Cuba all along, in spite of the play’s anti-American stance.
Durgapur Bhimroti’s Prati-prashna made me sit up with its Western-style mise-en-scene and taut structure. It figured, when director Dipankar Sen told me he had adapted it from an episode in the Netflix series Criminal: UK. Therefore, he had replicated as closely as possible the police interrogation chamber in the source, inclusive of one-way glass window and a monitor above to project the screenshots from incriminating phone messages.
However, the content of the original episode, titled “Alex”, had not gone down universally well among viewers. The case involved a boss accused by his employee of rape at an after-office assignation. I cannot reveal any more for fear of giving away the denouement. If readers don’t mind spoilers, they can find a full, rational rebuttal in “How Not to Do a Rape Story” at attemptedmurder.uk. Also, the crucial surprise comes as a twist in the tale, a typical OTT device.
Buddhadeb Das enacts the man as believably aggressive by nature, but goes completely berserk at the end, undermining credibility. The women give much more nuanced portrayals: Madhurima Goswami (the inspector) wants to pin him down but understands that she cannot without clinching evidence, and Nayana (his advocate) wears an attitude of no big deal, all in a day’s work. Ultimately, Sen must take the responsibility for choosing this contrarian narrative on a highly charged issue.
27 July 2024