There is no doubt that Piyal Bhattacharya is an academic researcher first. His preoccupation with Bharata's Natya Shastra led him to a study of Gandharva Vidya as it was practised in Bharata's time. A performance piece, Margya Natya, emerged from this exercise, purporting to present a reconstruction of a ritualistic Gandharva Vidya recital.

Decoding the Natya Shastra in terms of musical traditions, developing a dance vocabulary based on the text and a study of sculptures, and encapsulating its theatrical features in a production is an enormous task. Bhattacharya's commitment is evident in his work. Having said this, one felt disappointed by the recondite nature of the piece. Given that the script is predominantly Sanskrit and the play is verbose, the audience misses the philosophical and abstruse content of the play. It is a shame because the actors worked hard on the language, diction and delivery. One feels somewhat alienated from both the form and the subject.

This could have been addressed by more physical theatre. A script in a modern Indian language, with a smattering of Sanskrit for flavour and identity, would have been more acceptable.