Monsoon has just arrived. Santiniketan has woken up to the rain clouds drifting across the lush green landscape, the laterite beds and the riverside. Romance is in the air. The students of Sangit Bhavana and Kala Bhavana are busy embracing the elements of monsoon in all their subtleties. If you would like to watch a play soaked in this aura, then Korhi O Komal (picture) is just the one for you. Life and art rarely blend so delicately in our theatre.
Presented by Barasat Rameshpally Theatre Group, Korhi O Komal — named after the sharp and flat notes in Hindustani classical music — is based on a short story by Joy Goswami that, in turn, is inspired by the delightful friendship that developed between Bikram Singh Khangura and Mithu Sen in the early 1990s. Sudip Sinha, who seems to have mastered the art of dealing with ultra-sensitive narratives, adapted and directed this real-life story into a moving piece of drama.
Spanning less than 40 minutes, Korhi O Komal portrays the pastoral spirits of Santiniketan where Singh, an aspiring singer with a keen sense of nature, and Sen, an art student, bonded over disagreements and complemented each other with élan. Sinha keeps the design simple and focuses on the musicality that runs through the drama. Moumita Dutta and Sourav Das played the duo, exploring the sensitive core of the characters. Nirmalya Dey held the narrative together. This reviewer happened to experience this at Jogesh Mime Academy. Given the flexibility of the design and the transcendental temper it generates, Korhi O Komal should be staged regularly at every possible openair arena in and around Santiniketan.
Gobardanga Nihshabd presented this and some other dramatic pieces at their Art Festival on March 22. The evening also featured a solo clown play (Naughty Student) by Suroj Biswas and a mime presentation (Lorai) by Imon Mime Centre which is led by Dhiraj Howlader. The latter, a suggestive reworking of the factors and issues leading to communal rift in India, should travel miles.