Summary
Jantro Danob was launched in October 2020 and has 74 members at present
From actors, editors, scriptwriters to poster designers, all are college students
Three students have come together to start a YouTube channel for audio plays.
Jantro Danob is the brainchild of Amartya Kundu, a second-year Film Direction and Screenplay Writing student at MIT School of Film and Television, Pune; Souparna Sarkhel, a third-year Mass Communication and Videography student of St. Xavier’s College; and Tanay Thakur, a 2021 Chemistry graduate St. Xavier’s College. From actors, editors, scriptwriters to poster designers, the trio involved more students from colleges of Kolkata.
The channel was launched amid the pandemic in October 2020
“Jantro Danob is a platform for all theatre enthusiasts to dabble in theatre without the fear of being judged. Any student can join us and work with us. We believe that all of us have something to learn and something to teach no matter how experienced we are in the field. We want to sustain the collective effort for a long time so that one day it becomes a household name,” Amartya said.
The first production, Dhaker Taley, is a series of five stories depicting West Bengal during Puja. Uthsho is a tale woven around a conflict an NRI experiences on returning to Kolkata during Puja, Chalti Ka Naam Rickshaw is a tale of a rickshaw puller struggle to earn amidst an influx of other vehicles, Prarobdho is the story of Durga Puja celebrated by a joint family, Sodhon is a tale of revenge and Coda is about a couple parting their ways.
Once the script is finalised, the production is initiated through casting calls. After the actors are selected and then begin the rehearsals. Each production takes two to three weeks, which includes rehearsals, recording, sound editing and mixing, to wrap up. Post rehearsals, the actors record their voices after which the sound editor does his job.
“The idea of Jantra Danob came to our mind during Durga Puja 2020. We tried to create an audio play series for the five days of Puja but we needed an independent platform. The name Jantra Danob is inspired by the song Prithibita na ki chhoto hote hote by Moheener Ghoraguli that refers to boka baksho which means television. Our logo is inspired by the Bhooter Raja icon of Satyajit Ray. From an ordinary independent page with radio play content to an organised audio storybook channel producing content every week with a large network of people from various colleges of Kolkata. We are growing with collective effort,” Souparna said.
Jantro Danob has 74 members at present and churns out audio plays every weekend. Adaptations like Narayan Gangopadhyay’s Record to an original stories like Jo Bit Gayi So Baat Gayi, a story based on a post-COVID world, Bella Ciao, a story of a patriotic soul battling the threat to his freedom, Protichhobi, a tale of a mother’s dilemma, and Bidroher Faash, a story dealing with surrealism and contemporary politics. The team has also adapted four of Manto’s works --- Khol Do, Toba Tek Singh, Thanda Gosht and Tamasha.
“When we decided to open a YouTube channel and produce radio plays what bothered us was that we didn’t have a studio. Then we decided to do the recording in our respective homes. We are looking forward to expanding our team and coming up with more quality content,” Tanay said.
Last updated on 09 Dec 2021
