In almost two decades of its existence, Prachyo has cemented its reputation of being a group that produces lavishly-mounted plays with thought-provoking content. Bosonter Bojronirghosh, written by the veteran playwright, Chandan Sen, and directed by Biplab Bandyopadhyay, is the latest addition to the Prachyo corpus of significant productions.
Bosonter Bojronirghosh is centred around the life of Charu Majumdar, the communist leader who engineered the militant peasant unrest in Naxalbari in the late 1960s. In trying to capture the essence of Majumdar’s life, the play quite clearly prioritises Charu Majumdar the man over Charu Majumdar the political figure. Thus, people like Kanu Sanyal (who was an extremely significant political comrade-in-arms) or Majumdar’s political writings (for example, the Historic Eight Documents) that provide the ideological foundation of militant communism in India are referenced briefly in the play. On the other hand, a slice of Majumdar’s school life, his relationship with his father and, most importantly, his relationship with his wife,
Lila, are prominently foregrounded. The humanising thrust behind the biographical historiography in Bosonter Bojronirghosh is quite successful in conveying a sense of Charu Majumdar as a living, loving, breathing human being. The centrality accorded to Lila Sengupta in Majumdar’s life is a welcome act of revisionism as it allows the play to touch upon the prickly issue of the erasure of
the presence of women in communist politics.
For any play to be impactful, it is of utmost importance that the stage comes alive not just through the intervention of the actors but by unleashing composite synergy involving set, props, light and sound. Biplab Bandyopadhyay’s directorial ability to secure choreographic discipline from his team of performers has been proven over the years and complex, intricate scene compositions work like clockwork here. Shatadal Chakraborty as Charu Majumdar comes up with a refined, controlled performance, never overdoing anything. There are other competently effective performances as well from Arghya Mukherjee, Rajdeep Banerjee, Supriya Dutta (at his theatrical best); however, Dipanwita Chakraborty as Lila stands out with a deeply stirring act.