Theatre artiste and actor Manoj Mitra's story Alokanandar Putrokanya was one of the most powerful offerings at the three-day Bengali drama festival, which drew to a close at Mecon Community Hall, Ranchi, on Monday evening.

Starting on Saturday, September 10, five theatre groups (one each from Bengal, Odisha and Jamshedpur and two from Ranchi) took part in the 17th edition of the annual theatre fest, organised by Majlish, a socio-cultural outfit of Bengali-speaking employees of Mecon and SAIL.

The fest gave the capital's theatre buffs an opportunity to watch six plays, two each evening.

Alokanandar Putrokanya, the first play of Sunday evening, presented by host Majlish, was a story of how childless Alokananda, convincingly played by Ranja Roy, brought up others' children as her own and continued to do so even when she and her husband became poor.

The fest opened on Saturday with Rabindranath Tagore's classic Dak Ghar (Post Office), presented by Bolpur Kinanko, a theatre group from Bengal, which portrayed the life of Amal, a boy confined to his uncle's home due to an incurable illness.

Though Bolpur Kinanko had tried to bring in novelty by inserting songs and audio-visual projections in the play, it seemed to disappoint the audience, who felt the innovations were distractions.

The second play of Saturday evening was Mohit Chattopadhyay's Dhisum Dhisum, presented by Theatre Artists of Jamshedpur, that spoke about how man, normally timid by nature, can fight back, when pushed to the edge.

Sunday's second play was Mahesh, based on Saratchandra Chattopadhyay's story and presented by Titli Foundation of Rourkela (Odisha).

The story of Mahesh revolved around a poor farmer, Gafur his daughter, Amina and their attachment towards Mahesh, the bull, whom Gafur killed in a fit of rage and then decided to leave the village in repentance.

Though Titli Chatterjee as Amina drew applause for her performance, better editing by director Pallab Chatterjee would have made the play sharper, felt some viewers.

On Monday, host Majlish staged another Manoj Mitra play, Ashwathama, a satirical take on the great war described in the Mahabharata.

Then, Deshapriya Club of Ranchi staged Kelor Kirti as the last play of the three-day fest that spoke about a theatre group and its interaction with an old man.

"We wanted to entertain through theatre," Majlish secretary Amitabha Dasgupta said when told that the fest was confined to older plays and missed out on modern ones. "We don't underestimate the audience and will try to present modern plays in future," said another member of Majlish.

"It is our sincere attempt to protect Bengali culture outside Bengal," said Pallab Chatterjee of Titli Foundation, Rourkela, who directed Mahesh.