Interdisciplinary artiste Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee enthralled the audience at Sisir Mancha on May 4 as he collaborated with musician Shibasish Banerjee to perform the opening show of Journeys. Advertising Club Calcutta, Inner Circle Advertising and Icanfly teakafi presented the evening.
The set designed by Triguna Shankar and Arun was a warm and aesthetic one. A photograph of Sujoy’s mother, late Sucheta Chatterjee, was also placed on the stage. The programme began by felicitating poet Subodh Sarkar, thespian Bibhash Chakraborty, elocutionist Pranati Tagore, publisher Tridib Chatterjee, danseuse Paramita Saha, actor Solanki Roy, vocalist Srovonti Basu Bandopadhyay and Tagore exponent Prabuddha Raha.
(l-r) Madhuwanti Basu(Co-founder SPCkraft), Suparna Datta, Papia Rao, Solanki Roy and Bhaswar Chatterjee
Journeys consisted of readings from works that have influenced Sujoy throughout his life. His detailed research, design and intrinsic aesthetics blended with the soul-stirring voice of Shibasish. The readings were from the works of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Taha Muhammad Ali, William Shakespeare, Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Nirendranath Chakraborty, Amrita Pritam and others.
The two highpoints of the evening were the dramatised reading of a selected excerpt of Othello and Sujoy’s self composed epistolary poem Rajkumarer Chithi. Sujoy played Othello and Desdemona with ease, passion and intensity, gradually uncovering the deceit and finally death.
The audience also appreciated Katha Bhangar Katha, an original composition composed and sung by Shibasish. Actors Bhaswar Chatterjee, Koneenica Bandopadhyay, elocutionist Sutapa Bandyopadhyay, entrepreneur Papia Rao, Sanhita De Mouik of Twine Tales and several others attended the event.
An afterparty was held at The Black Cat.
British Deputy High Commissioner, Andrew Fleming
Alexey Idamkin, Russian Consul General