For Sangeeta Pal, the journey has just begun. Despite being associated with Arun Mukhopadhyay’s theatre group, Chetana, for 18 long years, she feels that she is learning afresh. It has taken a lot of courage for Sangeeta to start off her own theatre group in the middle of 2014. 

Doing rehearsals, shows, sets and most importantly, getting funds, pose a challenge for Sangeeta who is, otherwise, a textile designer at a private company. However, she is ready to fight tooth and nail for her six-month old theatre group, Nirnoy, that has already started getting noticed after its first production, Rosh. 

The formation of Nirnoy was quite like putting the cart before the horse. “I was preparing a script based on Narendranath Mitra’s story Rosh, for Chetana. Arun Sir (Mukhopadhyay) had been thinking of doing Mitra’s play. All of a sudden, while discussing the script with some junior actors and theatre workers, I thought of starting my own group. I named it Nirnoy, after one of Chetana’s plays in which I had played the lead role,” said Sangeeta.

Sangeeta’s childhood was spent learning classical dances like Kathak and Odissi as also contemporary dance. She came to join a theatre group just by chance. “I have been associated with Chetana since I was in Class XI. I was introduced to Arun Mukhopadhyay at a workshop that was held at Santragachhi library. I fell in love with theatre and wanted to join Chetana. Sir took me in immediately and since then I was involved in everything related to the group,” said Sangeeta. Her first appearance on stage as a member of Chetana was in Gantabbya, directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay.

Leaving Chetana had never occurred to Sangeeta when she was with the group. “I always wanted to be wholly involved in the group. Not just acting, I did a lot of backstage work in Chetana. I would assist Sir in his work,” said Sangeeta. She has acted in plays like Nirnoy, Putul Nach, Ela Ebong Bimala and Marich Sambad. Only recently did Sangeeta start acting in Chetana’s well-known production, Jagannath, where she played the role of Manorama. Sangeeta has also been on foreign tours with the group, to Norway and England in 2000, where they have staged Marich Sambad. Being a textile designer, Sangeeta has often designed the costumes for Chetana’s productions. Sangeeta decided to leave the group after differences in opinion cropped up with other members. 

Nirnoy is making its presence felt with Rosh, that has completed some 12 shows within a span of six months. Another short play of 45-minutes is Trailakyanath Mukhopadhyay’s Nayan Chander Byabsa, a political satire that was staged at Anya Theatre’s festival, Natya Swapnakalpa. Trying to find a niche for Rosh, Sangeeta has confronted many realities. “I have lost friends whom I had expected to stand by me when I left Chetana. However, at the same time, I have found new friends and critics who have appreciated my production on stage. My relationship with Arun Sir still stands and he still guides me in my work. He corrects me if I go wrong,” said Sangeeta. 

She has put in all that she has for her group, including the fellowship money that she got from the ministry of culture, government of India. “I did a study on the impact of grants and subsidies on theatre groups for which I received Rs 2 lakh. I have used that for shows and productions of my group,” said Sangeeta. Although she feels that grants are necessary for poor theatre groups, Sangeeta also despises the competition between groups to get grants. “Many groups put up slipshod productions for the sake of obtaining the grants. I think smaller groups are doing better work, but their work goes unnoticed,” said Sangeeta.

MORE ABOUT SANGEETA

• DoB: October 6, 1977
• Born in: Calcutta
• Education: BA
• Family: Parents, brother
• Loves: Cooking
• Hates: Lies, two-facedness