On the first floor of the CIT Market on Prince Anwar Shah Road, the workshop space of theatre group Chetana is abuzz with dialogue, music and laughter as t2 walks in on a late Monday afternoon. “After 25 years, I have returned to Chetana from where I had started my career. We have been rehearsing day and night like crazy,” says Suman (Lal) Mukhopadhyay, actor-director, taking a break from the rehearsals. 

You will be back on stage after 25 years! How did this happen? 
Chetana did a production on Man of La Mancha in 1994, called Dukhi Mukhi Joddha. This time when Neel (Sujan Mukhopadhyay, brother) thought of directing this play, Don — Taake Bhalo Laage, I was in Bombay. He needed an actor for the main role and I was interested in reconnecting with Bangla theatre. So I said I would like to do it. 

How has the play shaped up?

We have made a lot of intervention in the text of the 1994 production, which was my father’s (Arun Mukhopadhyay) initiative, to bring forth the socio-political milieu of today. Don Quixote is a man who dreams of being a knight. It’s the story of a dreamer. I think, in this time of ours, there is a certain energy or excitement around, most of which is misplaced and hence a waste. This play talks about a madness, which is very positive. It takes you forward. Don Quixote’s madness or his view of life is a kind of a counterpoint to today’s life. He is an impossible dreamer. We want to touch that impossible dream.

Any reason you gave acting a miss for so long?

I quit acting for two reasons. I was not enjoying performing, and I also wanted to break away from the traditional Bengali theatre culture where the director is the scriptwriter as well as the main actor. I wanted to focus on direction.

So are you enjoying it now?

After 25 years, after getting used to being off the spotlight, the light is on me again. I am feeling my make-up again. So I am excited. I am feeling very good.

Tell us about the role you are playing. 

I am playing Don Quixote. Plus, the role of a storyteller. Unlike previous productions of Man of La Mancha, we have a contemporary person, instead of Cervantes, telling the story of Don Quixote in today’s language. Our Cervantes is a man of 2018. The story is the same 400-year-old one, but told from the contemporary perspective.

You have been a part of your father’s production of Dukhi Mukhi Joddha as well. Is that experience coming in handy? 

I had composed many songs for that production and also had played a small character. That was another time when the world was in confusion, the Soviet bloc had collapsed. It was such a time when we needed a dreamer who could take us out of morbidity. A grimness, an ennui was working within us. 

Now, in 2018, I think we are again looking at a similar turmoil with a historical dementia working in us. Only a dreamer can break that. 

When was the last time you acted on stage?

I never went on stage after the 1994 production. I sang a song on stage. Since then, I haven’t done any major role on stage. The last two plays I did were Madhab Malanchi Koinya in 1988 and then Kabir, based on the play Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein, around 1991. 

What is your father’s reaction as the two brothers are getting back together with Don?

I think he is very happy. We are using his translation as the base for this play. But we have brought in a lot of dramaturgical interpolations. We want him to do a small role as well. But he is 82 and is not very confident about his health. So he hasn’t committed. If he acts, it would be three generations of our family — my father, Neel and me, and Neel’s son who is playing a musician’s role — coming on stage together for the first time. Neel’s wife Nibedita is playing the female lead in Don.

It is a family reunion...

I think this togetherness was always there. Whenever we sit together as a family, we talk about theatre and cinema. All of us working under one banner is something that’s happening after a long time.

But this is the first time you and Neel are working together...

Yes. I also haven’t acted under anyone’s direction, except my father and Bibhash Chakraborty (Madhab Malanchi Koinya). I have always directed others.

So how is it to be directed by Neel?

To begin with, it was a little difficult. Because after 25 years of giving instructions to actors, the director’s chair gets stuck to one’s back. Now I have to remove that and sit on the actor’s chair. Somehow, I am feeling very comfortable working with Neel. There are no major differences between our world views. So that helps. It’s kind of a give-and-take process. I can tell him what I feel as an actor, he tells me what he wants. As a director, he has the final say. For a long time, I have had the final say. That is also a kind of fascism. So now I am trying to get rid of that mindset and participate in theatre more democratically.

Is Neel a demanding director?

He is. But his demand is not absolute. He is working with a lot of young actors. So he has to be a little pressing... but he gives a lot of space. I am feeling very comfortable. The play is seeping into my system, which is very important for an actor. 

From the rehearsals, it seems this play has a lot of humour.

Yes, but there’s sadness as a counterpoint. Humour is there because whatever this man is doing is crazy. He is imagining a tavern as a fort. A common woman becomes a princess in his vision. This continuous layering of a kind of super-reality is humorous. He is fighting the windmills thinking they are demons. If you go deeper, it has a sadness. I would call it bibhotsho moja, as told by Ritwik Ghatak in the film Subarnarekha. I think this fun is bibhotsho. Dangerous fun. Don is fun but he is always walking a tightrope.

You are singing a lot of songs in Don... 

Yes, it’s a musical, with recorded and live music. We are ending with a song by Kabir Suman. We have Rabindrasangeet as well. I have five solos. 

What does Suman Mukhopadhyay dream about?

I want to do the kind of work I always wanted to do. Without compromise. And I dream of a world where at least we can come together without getting fettered by religious animosity and warring nations. 

Will we get to see you more on stage now?

I think I will concentrate on doing my plays again. I will do a film also. 

How do you find the theatre scene in Mumbai?

Bombay has a specific English theatre scenario, which is kind of ruled by so-called film stars, mostly. Hindi theatre is Prithvi-centric and it is also going through a lot of crisis. 

What is your view on contemporary theatre in Bengal?

A lot of work is happening but there is a dearth of good quality work. A lot of youth theatre groups have come up but they are fizzling out. They need to take the language of theatre forward. That is not happening. It’s not just about coming together with energy, you also have to practise and make theatre more enriching. You have to give today’s audience new formats and forms of theatre. 

What: Don: Taake Bhalo Laage, a Bengali play

Where: Academy of Fine Arts (April 29) and Gyan Manch (April 30 and May 1)

When: 3pm and 6.30pm (April 29); 6.30pm (April 30 and May 1)

The play: Based on Cervantes’  Don Quixote as well as the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, it’s a musical directed by Sujan (Neel) Mukhopadhyay. Suman Mukhopadhyay plays the protagonist Don. Prabuddha Banerjee has designed the soundscape. 

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes, including a 10-minute interval

Tickets: Priced Rs 250, Rs 200 and Rs 100, available for the Academy shows at the venue. Tickets for the Gyan Manch shows, priced Rs 250, available at the Academy counter daily and at the venue only on show days. Also available at www.thirdbell.in.

Director’s note

The play: Since my father stopped directing plays and Suman moved to Mumbai, I have been directing plays like Ghasiram Kotwal and Magan Rajar Pala to keep Chetana afloat. All this while, Dukhi Mukhi Joddha, my father’s interpretation of Man of La Mancha, kept coming back into our discussions. I have always felt that there was some problem with that production, in terms of connecting with the masses. So I took it up as a challenge to recreate the play, with a contemporary touch. We have touched upon many issues of today — chit funds, sanitation for all, Swachh Bharat, cow slaughter. 

Suman the actor: I think his main handicap on stage was that the volume of his voice is low. But he has done some great plays and he sings superb. He is apt for this role. It is not difficult to direct him. He is so physically fit. I think the audience will love it.

The musical: I have always loved music. I play the guitar. And this play has some amazing songs. There are 12 songs. All are live performances with a band… three guitars, dotara, cajon, percussion, harmonium... Rabindranath Tagore to Kabir Suman, Nidhu Babu’s toppa, old Bollywood tracks — we have everything. There are many songs from Dukhi Mukhi Joddha.
 
Budget: We don’t get any government grant. So we have used up everything that we had saved from the shows of Magan Rajar Pala and Ghasiram Kotwal. It’s been made with Rs 5 lakh. It’s an expensive production with 25 members on stage.

Sibendu Das