It was a celebration of monsoon in Tagorean terms at Naba Pratishruti’s programme on August 12 (Madhusudan Mancha). Abhirup Guhathakurta’s soul-stirring Ke dilo abar aghat and Purba Dam’s weaving of a pastoral fantasy in Krishnakali stood out amidst sheer mediocrity. Tapur-Tupur, a 17-minute presentation featuring poetry and music to conjure up a holistic monsoon aura, deserved an elaborate treatment. With Haimanti Shukla essaying anything between a alaap in Mallar to her signature Ogo brishti amaar, how could one concentrate on poetry in a wink-and-miss situation? Be it an Amiya Chakraborty or a Sunil Gangopadhyay, one needs a breathing space, after all. Especially when one treats romantic love against a rainy canvas.
Anshuman Bhowmick
The best situational comedy often succeeds by depicting the follies and eccentricities of human nature. But as Kolkata Suchetana’s latest production Atar Kothi (Rabindra Sadan, August 16) shows, it doesn’t always work the other way round. The play, based on the Bangladeshi writer Humayun Ahmed’s Shedin Chaitramash, revolves around a cantankerous and rich old man Mabinur (played by director Onkar Ghosh) and the funny incidents that take place when he employs Safikur (Rupak Ray), a young man desperately looking for a job. The story has all the ingredients (for example, marital discord and unruly children) of good comedy, but is marred by a weak script full of inconsequential details. The acting, too, is far from uniform, with only a few of the lead characters like Mabinur and Jainal making an impression.
Satadru Ojha
Sankalpa Nrityayan’s Odissi dance programme at the Gyan Manch on August 12 began with Sraddhanjali, a tribute to the late Odissi maestro Kelucharan Mahapatra. It was followed by the felicitation of Odissi exponent Kumkum Mohanty and Chuni Goswami, sheriff of Calcutta. Mukherjee was faithful in her Abhinaya dhira samire jamuna tire, based on Ashtapadi by Jayadeva. He could have chosen some other pieces, though. The latter part of the evening featured Tuhu Mama Madhava, a dance-drama based on the Vaishnav Padabali. The passionate love of Radha-Krishna was a colourful presentation. However, more perfection of basic postures and angasuddhi, which is the foundation of any classical dance style, were required.
Sharmila Basu Thakur
