Calcutta, March 2 :    Calcutta, March 2:  Unbeknown to many, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture in Ranikuthi has suddenly become the city's cultural hotspot. At 3 Regent Park, the institute already houses Galerie La Mere, a dance school and a tiny auditorium that can seat about 150, with an equally tiny stage. After remaining behind the scenes for over two years, it is in this auditorium that Saonli Mitra has chosen to make a comeback. Minutes before joining the other actors in the large room above Park Circus market, where the theatre group Pancham Vaidic has rehearsed many a spellbinding play, Saonli explained why she plumped for the Ranikuthi auditorium: 'After the performance of the play Agnimantha as part of Natyatarpan in memory of my parents, the audience stood up and demanded that I reappear on stage. I told them that there was no suitable place where I could perform. The audience, in turn, declared that they were behind me. Surprisingly, 250 people stood patiently in a queue to write down their names and contact addresses.' So Pancham Vaidic started the system of donor membership. Initially, they had planned a natyagram, a theatre village. They decided to look around for a large enough plot for the project. Saonli was very close to Jaya Mitra, who ran the institute before her death. Her son, Ranjan Mitra, and Shyamal Mukherjee, who have taken over the institute, offered the small auditorium to the group gratis. Says Saonli: 'Here we could do things on a small scale before a small audience. There was the possibility of a parallel space being created. We are very grateful to them. They keep open house for us.' The results have been very encouraging. Donor-members come all the way from Chandernagore, Chinsurah, Paikpara and Baranagar to attend performances. 'We have already established a rapport with the audience and interaction with them is encouraged,' says Saonli. The authorities are already thinking of getting the hall airconditioned. Now Saonli is thinking of establishing a cultural complex at the institute with joint effort because the place already has such an ambience. Throughout last winter, Pancham Vaidic has held many shows at the auditorium, with Saonli occasionally putting in an appearance. At the first performance of Sujan Bratir Simanta there, a discussion was held with the audience on Sardar Sarovar. Through Narmada Bachao Andolan, the group has appealed to the authorities to rethink the decision on the dam. During performances of Agnimantha, Saonli stood in for an absentee protagonist. The play is about a political figure, who had disappeared for years. During his absence, his wife had struggled to raise their son. After the man's sudden return, hopes are raised that his presence would revive the movement. But the man flees, and he is at last liquidated. Here Saonli plays the man's wife, which is a secondary role, she is quick to add. Sujan Bratir Simanta is against the 'socialisation of war.' Saonli has no role in it. She is the disembodied voice of a dead woman. But at the coming performance of the play at the ongoing National School of Drama festival, she will play the role of the sutradhar. There have also been readings from Buddhadeb Basu's Mahabharata-based plays and Tagore's writings on the theme of timeless love (Rabindranather Kaljayi Prem). But isn't this an overdose of propaganda? Saonli replies: 'If this is propaganda, it is meant for the good of humanity and not to further the cause of any political party. If this is perceived as propaganda, I don't mind it.'