Bringing back the past glory

'Theatre Around' my new weekly column started in a special 'Sunday Sundae' suppliment of 'The Hitavada' Nagpur CityLine, from May 13. This column aims to highlight the contribution of non-Marathi theatre activity in Nagpur city's Fine Art scene. It started with an overview of Bengali Theatre, led by noted producer-director Raja Mukherjee. Here is the first part published on May 13, 2012....



Once pride of Nagpur, Bengali Theatre has fallen to hard times since last few years. But now, it is
witnessing a ‘modest revival’ in city with Raja Mukherjee’s Ekla effort...


AYON Mukherjee, all but 12-year-old, loves to be there at the practice hall when his parents — Archana and Raja Mukherjee — rehearse for their latest Bangla play. He observes every movement and can recite entire play, just like his father used to do in his childhood days.
Raja Murkherjee learned nuances of Theatre while watching his father, Shombhu Mukherjee’s plays. Today, he is carrying forward the tradition by running a lone Bangla Theatre activity in Nagpur through his group ‘Drighanchu’. With local artists, his group has been producing Bangla plays continuously for last 28 years, unmindful of public response or revenue.

“Theatre is like ancestral gift to us. When I was a kid, we shifted to Nagpur from Kolkata and my father started ‘Amra Shobai’ (We all), a drama group dedicated to Bangla plays in Nagpur. That was the period when Bengali Theatre was in its full glory in Orange City,” Raja Mukherjee, recalls days of capacity-packed shows of Bengali Association’s full length plays at Dhanwate Rang Mandir; days of year-long active Bengali Theatre — active enough to inspire the then Nagpurian Tarun Kumar Bhaduri’s daughter to opt for FTII and attain fame as Jaya Bhaduri.

Raja Mukherjee

With changing character of the community itself, Puja plays - once a cultural identity of Bengalis – witnessed a steady decline. There was a time in 1960s and ‘70s when the Association would put up four productions a year. Later, it became difficult putting up a single play. However, the Mukherjees continued their commitment to the cause.
“It is my passion. I used to see my father working hard on selecting scripts, searching amateur actors, directing them, and inviting audience for the shows. Today, he watches me doing all this, and feels proud,” smiles Raja, a teacher in Dinanath High School admitting to higher levels of difficulty in present times when many other entertainment options are available to people. There are other problems too as Shombhu Mukherjee points out, “there is a serious dearth of youngsters who can speak flawless Bangla. Writers, too, are not completely conversant with the language,” he mourns underlining the fact that haunts us all. “Poor understanding of mother tongue is India’s national crisis.”
But amid many hurdles, the Mukherjees do find the enthusiasm to carry on. “We, as a family, take every obstacle as a challenge and enjoy every moment of play within the play,” says Archana, Raja’s wife and an award-winning actress herself. 
For, Raja Mukherjee too, the promise he made to himself, is a huge driving force. “Bangla Theatre is one among the richest theaters in the world. It’s our duty to serve it as much as we can,” he says. Dhrighanchu produces at least one full-length play every year and assures at least four shows of the same. The troupe also participates in Spandan – a multilingual national-level Theatre festival organised at Rourkela. Last year, ‘Dhrighanchu’ got an opportunity to participate in Sarthak Rupayan Bengali Theatre Festival in Mumbai, and their debut play ‘Ontorer Tane’ won five important prizes.

“This year, we will have the honour of being specially invited at the prestigious festival,” adds Mukherjee, the proud producer-director of the play. This year, they are planning two plays ‘Alibabar Pachali’ and ‘Sundor’. “Our aim is to bring back lost glory to Nagpur’s Bengali Theatre. We are managing with financial crisis, attitude issues and loads of other problems, but the only thing that we expect is sensitive, aware and committed audience,” Raja concludes leaving a thought for introspection for Nagpur’s Bengali audience.

Cutting of the same article from The Hitavada's City Line Nagpur, published on May 13, 2012