Seema Biswas as Phoolan Devi in Bandit Queen

Guwahati, Aug. 4: Actress Seema Biswas, who shot to fame as Phoolan Devi in Bandit Queen, will be seen in an Assamese play after more than a decade-long hiatus.

Biswas will act in the play Broken Images, to be staged at Rabindra Bhawan here on August 21 and 22. Directed by Rabijita Gogoi, the drama is penned by playwright Girish Karnad and translated into Assamese by Arindam Barkataki. Biswas will act alongside Pabitra Margherita.

“Biswas will be performing in an Assamese play after over a decade. She last performed in Assam’s mobile theatre circuit in the late nineties,” Gogoi, who has directed over 20 plays in Hindi, English, Assamese, Kannada, Bodo, Karbi and Nagamese, said.

Broken Images is the story of an Assamese writer, Manjula, who becomes famous after a British publisher publishes her first English novel worldwide and receives a great sum of money as advance payment for the novel.

She even gives an interview to a television channel about her success. Unfortunately, the truth is she stole the idea for the novel from her sister who died from an incurable disease after spending years in a wheelchair. The story unfolds gradually about her psyche, intelligence, intellect and her relationship with her husband and sister and the relationship between them.

“In this age of Skype and video-conferencing, Karnad has portrayed the story of an Indian English author in a dynamic narrative. The construction of the play fuses the concept of multimedia production in its writing style. The play happens in a TV studio and necessarily needed pre-recorded footage for its performance,” Gogoi said.

“The play is very challenging for the actor as well as the director. For the first time in Indian theatre, the play will use a video image to question a human being. The image is actually the inner self of the writer talking to her. The actor has to act her character and as well her inner self,” said Gogoi.

“With her powerful presence on stage, Biswas actually will be portraying two characters rather than two faces of one character. Both the characters will have constant dialogue between them on her life and work. It is a challenging job for the actor and the directorial team. It will be exciting to see how an accomplished actor like Biswas presents the complexity of the character.”

Jirsong Theatre has produced the play. Founded in 1995, the group has over 20 stage productions to its credit, undertaken 15 theatre-specific training programmes, published books and taken part in many Indian Theatre Festivals.