Thespians’ dilemma portrayed on stage

The play was meant to be a birthday gift from Debesh Chattopadhyay’s Sansriti to theatre lovers of the city. On Sunday evening, the Academy of Fine Arts was packed to capacity to watch the first show of ‘Brain’.

The play, which is a one night’s tale about the interaction between a theatre director, his wife and an actor and deals with the understanding of how every action of a human being has a scientific basis to it, once again raises the whole debate of whether theatre is a higher form of art in comparison to that which is churned out in the name of resurgent and popular Bengali cinema.

One reason why ‘Brain’ has the potential to become the next talking point of Bengali theatre is that it marks the return to stage of two of Bengal’s finest actors – Sujan Mukhopadhyay and Bidipta Chakraborty. Complementing them was none other than Pijush Ganguly, who has been a favourite on the stage, having consistently done plays such as ‘Jochhona Kumari’, ‘Virus M’, ’17th July’, ‘Mrityu Ishwar Jounota’ and ‘Babli’.

The choice that a theatre actor has to make when he opts for mindless cinema that offers both money and fame as opposed to the marginal existence of a theatre person in quest of knowledge does not merely remain an engaging debate between the idealist Pijush and the more realistic Sujan. It is a dilemma that most theatre actors in Tollywood are now facing. For them, the moot point is to decide whether it make sense to remain a “bad director” who is all equipped with the knowhow on dramatics but has no new production to talk about, or is it wiser to unlearn everything that was taught on stage and join the melodramatic world of populist cinema that is only concerned with number crunching?

Says Sujan, “When I first heard Debeshda’s script, I could see mirror images of so many people I know from Tollywood in the character that I was playing. The theatre actor’s dilemma might have been dealt with in earlier plays, too, but nowhere before has it got so magnified. At least 50% of the theatre actors I know in Tollywood will agree with these lines I mouth on stage: ‘Dorshok haat tali dichhe, director bhalo bolchhe, production house amake chaichhe, tor contradiction tokhon ****. Majhe majhe ektudialogue bhule jai. Tui ekjon byartho gyani director hoye barite bose thak. Ami ekta ***** actor hoye gari chalabo’.”

Sujan himself didn’t do theatre for close to five years and had refused his brother (Suman Mukhopadhyay) when he had offered him the role of Bishu Pagla for ‘Raktakarabi’. “I felt, I might end up coming late for rehearsals and not give the honour that’s due to theatre.

But it’s a fact that in between, I did a lot of roles on the small screen that didn’t make me proud. Reality shows pay a lot these days and I couldn’t ignore that lure,” he admits. There is a scene in the play where Sujan’s character shows a photograph of his that’s been published on Page 3 and proudly tells Pijush that he is happy to be seen there. “That’s actually the truth for so many actors,” he says.

Ask Pijush if he ever faced such a dilemma in his life and he says: “This is dilemma among most theatre actors in town. Having quit my job as a bank employee, I had to wait for six years before I was in a position to do theatre. Being on stage wasn’t enough to sustain me financially and even today, I need to go back to doing serials and cinema. But having said this, I must add that I don’t agree with my character’s views about theatre being a higher form of art. Today’s Bengali films and serials also offer intellectual fodder.”

Bidipta, who took 11 years to return to stage, says: “I started doing theatre when I was five. I had various reasons for not doing theatre in between though I did serials and films. Not too many interesting offers came my way. I loved Debeshda’s script and found Sujan’s character very interesting. I see so many such actors around me and I also notice that somewhere deep down they have that urge to go back to theatre but can’t.”

Debesh, on his part, insists that while the dilemma of the theatre actors is known to him, he doesn’t subscribe to the view that there can be any hierarchy in art forms. Says Debesh, “Let’s not compare the dynamics of theatre and cinema. In fact, it’s tougher for an actor to maintain the emotional continuity in a film and movie shooting requires more concentration. On stage, it’s challenging to connect with a live audience who will instantly give a feedback. There is no retake on stage.”

Be Sociable, Share!

•