Nandikar presents two short plays: Buddhadev Basu’s Pata Jhorey Jaye and Barda, based on Munshi Premchand’s Bade Bhai Saheb. Pata Jhorey Jaye is a 40-minute play centring around a middle-aged couple. After a prolong dutiful existence, they have at last reached the sunset years of their lives, at peace with themseves and their surroundings. Their only daughter is married and lives in the US, and their son lives with his family in Delhi. The duo live in the fond hope that their children will visit them someday. Their days stretch on and they try to fill their void by reminiscing about their younger days together. They often indulge in long uninterrupted monologues, perhaps preparing mentally to undertake that one final journey from where none returns. And each day they await to see their children, revive their bonds before death engulfs them. The play is directed by Rudraprasad Sengupta. Barda, directed and enacted by Goutam Halder, is partly autobiographical in nature as Premchand describes with humour and love his elder brother’s idiosyncrasies, his strict adherence to family traditions, his respect for the elderly and his deep affection for his younger brother (Premchand). The elder brother’s affection, concern and care bring out the intricate, complex and intense humane bond that enveloped families in the past. Painfully, yet funnily, the elder brother’s story offers a fantastic critique of conventional school education.

When: Today at 6.30 pm

Where: Academy of Fine Arts