BA BLOCK residents’ association made its presence felt at Bidhannagar Mela (Utsav) recently when Champak Ghosh, Vichitrita Dutta, Uma Das and Ankur Majumdar presented the audio drama Kurukshetra.
A play written by Banani Mukhopadhyay, Kurukshetra was a commentary on the fights that an elderly couple gets into night and day. But what is underlined is the profound love and concern the “warring” couple have for each other.
“In typical Bengali families, love endures not through demonstrative hugs but through an understated feeling for each other,” said actor and director Dutta, who is associated with three theatre groups — Bachik Shilpi Songstha, Shobder Karigor and Utsa.
Dutta played a trusted but loud-mouthed domestic help in the Mukhopadhyay household, who is puzzled to see the ever-bickering couple turn mushy on their 50th wedding anniversary. Nor does she know why Manoroma (played by Uma Das) looks devastated. The truth is she has just learnt that her husband Manoranjan (played by Champak Ghosh) is suffering from brain cancer and that he has days to live. Manoranjan had broken the news to Manoroma after receiving a medical report on his headache.
Unable to bear the thought of living alone, they decide to gulp poison together, a delivery boy (played by Ankur Majumdar) comes knocking. He is from the diagnostic laboratory where Manoranjan’s brain scan was done and announces a mix-up in the reports. “You just have sinus,” he tells Manoranjan. But the relief and joy are short-lived as their verbal duels resume.
“This is how most Bengalis express their life-long love,” says Ghosh, who has had a long stint with the theatre group Lokkrishti.
“Not only has the BA Block quartet made us proud, but they have also proved that talent and creativity are in abundance in our block,” said Kalpita Saha, co-chairperson of the residents’ association’s cultural sub-committee. She was one of about 20 block residents who came to support their artistes.
“It was an enjoyable Bengali comedy of errors,” said BA Block secretary Prasenjit Saha.