Team Swapnasandhani busy rehearsing Ekla Cholo Re

The cast and crew members of

Swapnasandhani

’s Ekla Chalo Re have no time to rest. With the premiere date round the corner, the actors and backstage artistes are conducting rigorous rehearsal sessions.

“We started our stage rehearsals recently. On March 29, the team conducted a night-long rehearsal in the Academy of Fine Arts auditorium. There will be several other sessions again in April before it premieres,” said Kaushik Sen.

Based on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the politics behind it,

Ekla Cholo

Re is a seminal play by Utpal Dutt. Now, Kaushik is bringing it back on stage with a stellar star cast including Ashok Mukhopadhyay as Gandhi, Debshankar Halder as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Surajit Banerjee as Jawaharlal Nehru. Kaushik too will be seen in the play as Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Reshmi Sen will be seen as

Kasturba Gandhi

.

Kaushik’s previous production, Taraye Taraye, was a major success. However, his new project is completely different from the previous one. “It is a political thriller and the flavour of this play has little resemblance to Taraye Taraye. I felt this piece is important in today’s time and hence I sought permission from Bishnupriyadi (Dutt, Utpal’s daughter) to work on this play.”The director is also very nostalgic about the project. “My father, Shyamal Sen, was a disciple of Utpal Dutt. Barring a small play, I have never worked on Dutt’s dramas. This play will be my tribute to a giant of theatre and my father,” he said.