New Town CE Block
The Rabindra-Nazrul evening by New Town’s CE Block this year marked their debut in dance drama. For the first time, residents of the block presented Tagore’s Chandalika.
The event was held at Rabindra Tirtha and was inaugurated by former Hidco and NKDA chief Debashis Sen and his wife Urmila Sen.
Nibedita Mukherjee, a software engineer, played the titular role in Chandalika, that of a woman from a marginalised section of society. The performance was accompanied by live music and narration by the likes of Aban Saha and Anindita Sen. The show was directed and choreographed by Saha and Mohor Sarkar.
“We owe the success of this show to the hard work of the performers,” said Mukherjee. “It was challenging to act and dance with different sets of live music but what made it easier was that we bonded well and co-ordinated with one other. We made time despite our busy schedules and enjoyed our rehearsals over the past two months.”
“We are all excited as this was the first dance drama by our residents,” said Saha. “We faced the challenge of editing the one-and-a-half-hour original to 45 minutes while keeping the storyline intact. To curb the budget, we projected Tagore’s landscape paintings for the village scenes and backgrounds instead of props.” He was also grateful to have professionals like tabla player Moloy Das and dancer Samayeeta Das Acharya (who played Chandalika’s mother) on the team. “The journey was full of fun and creativity, and we shall now miss the rehearsals.”
This was followed by a scripted music show of Nazrul’s work. Tarak Baran Mukherjee and Gopal Mishra recited his poetry and Madhumita Basu, Tapati Sarkar, and others sang. The narration and anchoring of this segment was by Kakoli Bhattacharya.
The final act was Tagore’s comedy Chirakumar Sabha. Set in early 19th century Calcutta, the play followed the members of a bachelors’ club, led by Chandrababu (played by Gautam Banerjee), a professor who lives with his niece (played by Kakoli Chakraborty) and hosts sessions in his home. The twist in the tale is when one of the members Purna (played by Subhajit Basu) falls for the niece. The audience enjoyed the play, and the actors’ performances.
Srijita Talukdar
DB Block ladies club
So exasperated were the ladies of DB Block with the heat that they planned the culmination of their Rabindrajayanti with panta bhat, a simple but tasty meal meant to cool the stomach.
The block based ladies group Milemishey held the show at DB 7, the dance studio cum house of member Sonali Basak.
The show opened with a dance tribute by young Sharonya Mitra. The sixth grader of Hariyana Vidya Mandir had choreographed Mor bhabonare ki haoway by herself. Her mother, Rama Mitra, followed with Aay tobe sahachari.
Others sang and recited the bard’s works and Anjana Banerjee recited a self-composed poem Rabi kobi smarane, followed by Tagore’s Ami. Mahua Mukherjee De Sarkar recited Kobir Boyos, Korobi Chowdhuri delivered a soulful rendition of Bodhu kon alo laglo chokhe, Mala Banerjee sang Katobar bhebechhinu and Bhaswati Sengupta sang Ei labhinu sango.
Pujarini, the poem featuring the sacrifice of a court dancer, was beautifully recited by Shatarupa Banerjee, who also anchored the show.
Next up was Lakkhimoni Sen, who recited Kato ajaanare janaile tumi. “I wondered how to achieve the Rabindrik look. I finally resorted to accessories I had used for Holi. I sketched Tagore and pasted it on my earrings and necklace and grabbed some jasmines from my balcony to weave a hair garland,” she smiled.
The event concluded with the monsoon dance Neel anjono ghono by Basak, her daughter Sreemoyee Kaushiki Basak De, and Mousumi Saha. All through the dance, Sreemoyee’s year-old daughter Rajnandini clapped away. “My daughter is jovial but naughty. It was tough to rehearse with her around and sometimes I had to practice with her on my lap,” said the post graduation topper in Bharatnatyam from Rabindra Bharati University.
The show ended with the chanting of Tagore’s Where the mind is without fear and then it was over to fermented rice. Basak had prepared the panta bhaat while the others had chipped in with fried fish, piyaj posto, alu bharta, jhuri bhaja, pickles and chhatu makha. Mou Dubey, secretary of DB Block residents’ association, could not attend the meet but sent gandharaj lebu from her farmhouse to savour with the rice.
“What can be a better meal in this scorching heat than the nostalgic panta bhat?” proposed Basak, when Saha had suggested clubbing their cultural programme with dinner, during rehearsals.
“When we had planned the event, the weather was way hotter but now the rains have cooled it down. Still, we stuck to our original plan,” shared Basak, who also conceived the name of their group Milemishey, renaming the earlier Gulabi Gang