Adapting a book or a play to the screen or the stage is no easy task. A notable example is how Francis Ford Coppola turned a poorly written page in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather to a historic cinematic sequence of killing a police officer in a restaurant. Another great example is Sorkin’s modern stage re-adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, modernising its context for the 21st century. This challenge of translating written pages to a theatrical performance is what confronted Stage Ensemble Theater Unit’s (SETU) adaptation of the 1940s Bengali novel Chhaddobeshi by Upendranath Ganguly. Titled Hush Hush, the ensemble has already staged nine shows of this English play in the Boston area in front of packed audiences, with two more scheduled in November.
“For Hush Hush, I took content from the dialogues in the Bengali and Hindi films and the original novel, a very progressive one for its time, and then added some of mine,” says Subrata Das, SETU co-founder and director and script editor of the play. “I then tried to make sure the humour is not offensive, is not targeting a particular community. This SETU production, slapstick and physical in places, is very different from Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug that I directed last year to celebrate our 20th anniversary,” he adds. Both plays involved about three dozen actors in a double cast, along with dancers and narrators.
The story revolves around a hilarious case of mistaken identities and is one of Ganguly’s most famous works. It was first adapted into a Bengali film in 1944 starring Chhabi Biswas and remade in 1971, again in Bengali, this time starring the superstar Uttam Kumar. Hrishikesh Mukherjee put his own inimitable spin on it in the 1975 Hindi film, Chupke Chupke, starring Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan.
Chhaddobeshi (also spelt as chhadmabeshi) is a Bengali word that literally means “disguise” or “masquerade”. On its face, the story is very simple and presents a quintessential comedy of manners — a newly married botany professor Abanish Sen gets jealous of his wife Sulekha idolising her brother-in-law, Prasanta. The titular masquerade leads to a series of comical misunderstandings and situations where Prasanta is fooled. A deeper look reveals a celebration of open-mindedness, progressiveness, and breaking free from regressive societal norms, all while delivering an entertaining and timeless comedy.
SETU’s first challenge had to do with picking a good story. The ideal source material for adaptation to the stage has a focused plot, strong dialogue, a manageable scale, resonant themes, and enough dramatic potential to engage audiences in a live theatrical experience. But determining which elements to retain and which to omit or streamline is a daunting task. Stage productions have inherent limitations in terms of set design, lighting, and special effects compared to film or television adaptations. Overcoming these constraints while maintaining the novel’s scope and impact is a formidable task.
“I edit every play to make sure the length and content is appropriate, the play must have enough relevant social messages and a gripping story with enough dramatic elements to keep the audience engaged,” states Das. “Sometimes, we do go by the theme first, like ‘evils of casteism’ and ‘love in India’. In all these, art is our priority, and any messaging is subtle. I thought this story would appeal to audiences across all ages and there are enough comedic elements. I gave it a catchy name — Hush Hush. Comedy is tough and an individual’s sense of humour can be very culture-specific. Gratifyingly, Ganguly’s Chhadobeshi is very deep in content, dealing with fundamental human emotions and thought processes,” adds Das.
SETU co-founder Jayanti Bandyopadhyay’s costume design from the ’70s and Priyanka Banerjee’s fantastic mural art as the stage backdrop were a big hit. Bandyopadhyay says the “most important thing is to be in sync with the director’s vision. We wanted to take the audience to an India in the ’70s featuring a middle-class educated Bengali family from Calcutta. That description fit me to a ‘T’, growing up in Calcutta in the late ’60s — the vibrant colours and flowery prints in chiffons and tints, the fish-motif Dhonekhalis, the quintessential Balucharis, just to name a few, were right in front of me hanging or neatly folded on the shelves.”
The actors were pumped up for the challenge of pulling off SETU’s first comedy production. Sridhar Pola, who plays the brother-in-law, said: “Timing, delivery and chemistry with co-actors (are crucial); without any of these, it is bound to fall flat.” Another cast member, Ketan Dave, is of the opinion that “comedy needs several nuances, action/reaction, timing, and punches to be perfectly delivered by everyone in the scene with the energy to be maintained throughout”. The team addressed these through meticulous preparation, which is key to delivering great performances. Swapneel Batra asserts that “the timing of things is the hardest part to pull off in comedy”.
Yogita Miharia added that “this one was easier than many other roles I have played. For starters, I had to go back to analyzing my mother, aunts and women from the ’70s. Once I had that clear in my mind, I moved on to the next steps”. For Mukta Munjal, who plays the brother-in-law’s wife, the role preparation differed from the usual. She says: “Although Sumitra’s character that I play is on stage for long, the dialogues were short, similar and reactive — I needed to practise a lot with my co-actors for this one.” Another cast member, Gitanjali Srivastava, who plays the central role of Sulekha, mentioned “how we are never done preparing — there’s always something to improve.” Gautam Prabhugaonkar says that “pulling off a comedy in one’s mother tongue is easier than pulling it off when translated into English”.
Das added that “about eight-10 practices are just enough to work on blocking, emotions, delivery, and so on, syncing with selected music and lights. For Hush Hush, props were minimal as there were many scenes and fast transitions were required.” So, what’s next on the horizon for SETU and all the passionate folk connected with the ensemble? Das says: “We have been planning towards a month-long production here in the Boston area. Then we want to take one of our productions to NY off-Broadway.” So, which one would it be? That topic is “hush hush” for now.
SETU is a 501(c)(3) fully non-profit English theatre group in Boston since 2003 with a mission to build bridges between Indian and Western cultures. Further details at www.setu.us
