A theatre worker doesn’t have to be a social activist: Anjan Dutt

After working on western classics for years, Anjan Dutt is all set to stage Tagore’s Bisarjan. The play, which will premiere in December, will feature him as Raghupati, Suprobhat as Joysingha, Loknath Das as Govinda Manikya and Rukmini Sarkar, a newcomer and NSD graduate, as Aparna. Designed with an interesting soundscape, the play will also see Neel Dutt and Debopratim Baksi presenting live music on stage. In a chat with us, Anjan talks about the history of mob lynching, his reasons for choosing Bisarjan, his journey as a filmmaker and more. Excerpts:

Why did you choose Tagore’s work?
I have always worked on classics. I staged my first play in 1978, which was based on Jean Paul Sartre’s Men Without Shadows. After that, I worked on plays by Bertolt Brecht and other eminent playwrights the world over. This year, I thought I’ll work on Indian classics and chose Tagore’s work. That’s how it all started in April. But this is my own interpretation of Bisarjan.

Tagore’s Bisarjan stands against violence. Do you too have a message to convey?
This play stands against violence and religious dogma. I am analysing it through my worldview. I have taken eight scenes from the main conflict moments in the final version of Tagore’s play and just changed the language. I have incorporated my bits, especially the monologues. I wanted to tell today’s story. Music plays an important role. The scenes are separated from each other through music. Neel and Debapratim Baksi will play live music on stage. There are songs from all over the world — songs of peace by Pete Seeger, Tagore,

Woody Guthrie

, Salil Chowdhury, Bob Dylan and others. The music will add value to the play. We’ll probably use Raghupati Raghava.

Has the socio-political scene in our country influenced you to choose this play?
Obviously, the play became very relevant today due to the current political scenario. The way religion is being used in our country is dangerous. But I am not seeing it just from a localised space. There is an upsurge of violence everywhere in the world and that’s why I thought of using songs from everywhere. The history of lynching is not new. The African-Americans were lynched. The Jews are lynched. The gays are lynched. For this play, I’m trying to give a global perspective on the rightist minds.

It started from the Indian perspective. But now it has grown. For me, the play is a conflict between violence and non-violence. My Raghupati has his own conviction of his stand, much like Govinda Manikya. My Joysingha reacts to anger and love, unlike Tagore’s, who created the character with a lot of calm.

Historically, we have seen socio-political issues being dramatised on stage. Are you following the same route?
I don’t believe in such theatre. Politics korte hole politics koro. Natok korte hole natok koro. A theatre worker doesn’t necessarily have to be a social activist. A filmmaker or theatre activist or an artiste is doing his or her job. A politician or an activist is doing his or her job. If the roles blur, then there lies a problem.

There are people like Aparna Sen, Kaushik Sen and others who take part in social commentary…
That is great. But everyone might not be a part of that. I was also one of those 49 people who wrote the open letter to PM Modi on mob lynching. But that doesn’t mean everyone has to talk all the time or I will have to take part in such commentary all the time. I am a performer. If someone goes beyond that, great!

You have been in the Bengali theatre scene for a long time. But you are also a bit aloof from the mainstream theatre scene...
When I used to do theatre, Utpal Dutt was very popular and so were Nandikar and Bahurupee.

Theatre Workshop

and Chetana had just started. I was way junior, but I was working on stage. My theatre has never been similar to the idea of the existing groups. I had reservations about group theatres. I never liked the way they functioned then. Nandikarer lok Bohurupee-r sange kaaj korbe na, eder lok oder sange kaaj korbe na and so on. I never liked that. If need be, I will take actors from other groups. My theatre is bigger than my group. I was inspired, of course, by them, especially Nandikar. It was extremely group-oriented earlier. There was also a tad shade of elitism in theatre, as if, theatre was more important than cinema. I never agreed to that. Now, the scene has changed; everyone works with everyone. But we have to remember that some brilliant plays were made during that period and I was inspired by those. I was never inspired by Bohurupee though. Nandikar has always inspired me a lot. It introduced me to the world of theatre. I started reading plays by other playwrights like Chekhov and Brecht because of Nandikar.

Tell us about your journey with Kaushik Sen in Taraye Taraye…
Initially, Kaushik said he would work with me in an intimate space. I liked the idea. Later, the idea of Taraye Taraye cropped up and I agreed to work with him, but only for a limited period of time.

Taraye Taraye was a runaway hit. Why did you stop?
I have always done this. When I do theatre, I am not doing anything else. So, there has to be a season for it. I wouldn’t do anything else. It is not possible for me to stop everything else and go on doing one play forever. I cannot do a bit of this and a bit of that — I do a little bit of theatre and then work in a film and do a few concerts. I don’t function like that. In fact, that was becoming a problem as Kaushik started getting more shows. These clashed with my shooting dates and concerts. I told Kaushik about it. Between September and February, I usually have a lot of shows. Apart from shooting for a film, I really can’t do anything else. I cannot give more than six months to a play. That is how I function. I cannot jump from one thing to the other. That’s what I tell my actors too. I cannot go on doing a play forever, especially theatre.

If there are more offers of Taraye Taraye, what will you do?

No. I think it should end. There is always a time limit for a play. I told this to
Kaushik too.

You act in films, you make films. You sing and you do theatre. How do you manage?
I can do that because I can compartmentalise my work. For Kaushik, I have these many months, for shooting, I have these many days and so on. When I act, I act and when I shoot, I shoot. I do not do
everything simultaneously.

#MeToo has created a stir in Bengal once again…
I think if anything happens, the matter should go to the court. I don’t understand the social media trial. Whoever is exploited, should go to court. The matter should be handled by the officials. It should be handled legally. Media trial doesn’t work for me. I can talk about my film, views or anything on social media. But a legal matter should be handled legally.