‘Theatre is no longer a space for intelligent people’

After Bratya Basu’s legal notice, you are adapting Girish Karnad’s ‘Tughlaq’ and have asked Tilotamma Mazumdar for plays. Are you facing an existential crisis as a theatre director? After directing Bratya’s ‘Winkle Twinkle’, I had directed Nabarun Bhattacharaya’s ‘Fataru’. The script was penned by Rajarshi Dey. Then I directed ‘Ea’, ‘Surjopora Chhai’ and ‘Dream Dream’.None of these was penned by Bratya. I existed without his plays. Bratya is the most powerful playwright of our time. The journey with Bratya in the second phase began with ‘Bikele Bhorer Sorshe Phul’. Then, I did ‘Apatoto Eibhabe Dujoner Dyakha Hoye Thaake’, ‘Altaf Gomes’ and ‘Jatugriha’. In between, I did ‘Debi Sarpomasta’, ‘Grihoprobesh’, ‘Nissongo Samrat’, ‘Shey’, ‘Hayavadana’ along with ‘Brain’. These weren’t penned by Bratya. Now I’m ready for another journey. I hope to work with Bratya again.
Earlier too, you had patched up with Bratya when you had got a legal notice after ‘Winkle Twinkle’… True. At the workplace, there is a creative space and one for human resources. I don’t merge the two. Our inter- and intra-communication problems shouldn’t hamper our creative space.
You will be going to America to stage your direction of Ajitesh Bandopadhyay’s play, titled ‘Saudagarer Nouka’, with Debshankar Halder in the lead. Any special reason for casting Debshankar in it? This play is about the journey of an aged jatra artiste. Debshankar’s father, Abhay Haldar, was the doyen of jatra. He knows this space much better than any of his contemporary actors.
What is your understanding of Ajitesh Bandopadhyay? My dream theatre personality is Ajitesh Bandopadhyay. Besides being a powerful actor, he had a great sense of writing plays. I’ve watched him in films, including ‘Haate Bajare’. The other day, Debshankar was telling me a story about the first time he joined Nandikar. He was there in a crowd scene and was given a coat to wear. Later, Parimal Mukherjee of Nandikar had told him that it was the same coat that was once worn by Keya Chakraborty in Ajitesh Bandopadhyay’s ‘Bhalo Manush’.
Why do you think Ajitesh has been largely unsung? We construct and deconstruct history. Let me explain this with an incident from the 1993 Kolkata Book Fair. Someone asked me what I knew about Keya Chakraborty. All I could say was that she was a great actor who drowned to death in 1977. Bengalis have a very bad memory. We might soon forget Nandigram, Singur. If we hadn’t repeatedly discussed Tagore, we’d have forgotten him by now. It is the theatre fraternity’s responsibility to keep Ajitesh Bandopadhyay’s memory alive. There is only one theatre group — Kathakriti — that comes out with a magazine every year on him. So many people worked with him. Perhaps nobody from that generation felt the need to archive his works.
As a result, even his talent never got national recognition… The saddest thing about Bengal theatre is that it has completely forgotten Ajitesh Bandopadhyay. It is the same with Tripti Mitra. I was in the Minerva Theatre board where I had asked newcomers from Rabindra Bharati University to describe her and to list out Ajitesh’s plays. They drew a blank. Some work has been done. Sandhya De has done a compilation of Ajitesh’s plays. A publication called ‘Natyachinta’ has published his essays. A platform for theatre personalities, such as Natya Swajan, should have archived the works of these theatre giants. But that never happened.
This is Bijan Bhattacharya’s centenary year. Why not adapt his plays? I have plans to do that.
What else should Natya Swajan have done? If you go outside Kolkata, the auditoriums are not well-equipped in terms of acoustics. Malda, Midnapore, Purulia, North and South Dinajpur don’t have power consoles. I wanted equal facilities for theatre, both in the city and the districts. But that wasn’t a priority.
Some say instead of this, Natya Swajan’s priority was to give grants to small groups. [Pause] Documentation should be the primary responsibility of any theatre organization. How many know about Shekhar Chattopadhyay or Bijan Bhattacharya? People are about to forget Tapas Sen, Kumar Roy and Khaled Chowdhury. How many know about Utpal Dutt’s stagecraft? He showed projection on stage long ago. If we are trying to feel proud by saying ‘we are the first to do this’, it becomes very foolish. When Dutt used to stage ‘Titas Ekti Nodir Naam’ at Minerva, the stage was extended in the audience. How can we then do something similar today and claim that we are the first to have broken down the proscenium?
Is ignorance being used? Yes. Celebrities with no blemishes are being created today. That’s harmful for society and the person concerned. It creates confusion. We all know that training is needed to become a singer or a dancer. The primary requisites of an actor are voice, body and intellect. There is less accent on intellect now. Many actors don’t even read newspapers properly. Today, anyone can become a theatre director if he/she has a play, funds and trained people to do the sets, music and lights. They will give instructions like ‘stand here, sit there’ and good actors will pull off the show by virtue of their talent. The rest is done by huge hoardings. Some good directors are there. Unfortunately, a lot of people with limited or no knowledge of theatre are becoming popular directors only by resorting to formula.
Is their incompetence being pointed out? The media needs such people to fill up their pages. A hybrid and confused audience for theatre accepts the incompetence. Like an opera conductor, a director should know when and at what volume the cello or the violin should be played to create a composite whole. Sombhu Mitra had once wanted to know the colour of a paint that would be used on the ‘Rakta Karabi’ set. Khaled Chowdhury had sent someone to show him the colour. This boy had applied a coat of paint on a plank. On seeing it, Mitra had wanted to know whether the paint would be applied on the plank or the canvas because its hue would change accordingly. Today, how many directors would understand this difference? They don’t know the difference between pigment and spectral colours. Even after so many years, I’ll give myself only three out of 10 as a theatre director. Many don’t know how much they need to know.
While on Ajitesh, Bratya’s role in your film ‘Natoker Moto’ is apparently inspired by the thespian. How did he deliver in that role? Amitesh (Bratya’s character) is a shadow of Ajitesh. Bratya, being an intelligent actor with a fine sense of history, is very good in that role. He has not tried to replicate Ajitesh, but has retained a curious mix of vulnerability and rigidity.
It’s said that your film shows a clash between the characters inspired by Rudraprasad Sengupta and Ajitesh over Keya Chakraborty. Won’t that get too sensational? I’ve neither made a documentary nor a biopic. It is a work of fiction. That’s why the names are Prasad, Amitesh and Kheya. For the true story, people should refer to my book on Keya-di. I had interviewed her mother, her friends and even Chittaranjan Ghosh for that. My film’s script is what I deconstructed of the whole event.
Have you shown how Kheya felt stifled at home because a jealous Prasad put restrictions on her? I have read about how Keya-di felt stifled at home. When I was directing the film, I wanted to understand whether a theatre actress of today would face the same problems as Kheya did. I wonder, do I give that space to my actress wife or do I restrict her?
Apparently, you’ve shown Prasad getting into heated arguments when Kheya sold off her gold jewellery to fund an Amitesh production. What if people try to connect your film with reality? It’s best not to mix too much of reality with this. I only wanted to capture the passion of an era when a woman could sell off her jewellery to fund a production.
Are none of your characters painted in a very flattering light? My characters inhabit a grey zone and are all complete with their strengths and vulnerabilities.
Are you worried that those who have watched Keya’s performances might compare her acts with Paoli Dam’s recreations? Both Paoli and I have accepted that challenge. She is the best to have played this role.
Will you show the film to Rudraprasad Sengupta before release? No, I won’t.
Will you patch up with Bratya before the film’s release? I won’t patch up with him just for the release. But I remember the good times and wish him before his plays. If we are true friends, we will patch up. If not, we won’t.
Is it possible to do that, in the backdrop of gossip regarding you gravitating towards the politically more powerful Arpita Ghosh? Let slander do its job.
Is it truth, jealousy or bankruptcy of the theatre world that gave birth to talk about your alignment with Arpita for emotional reasons? Bankruptcy. That’s why intelligent people don’t gravitate towards theatre any more. Or theatre is no longer a space for intelligent people.