Natyaranga members rehearse for Sri Sambhu Mitra. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Inspired by Bratya Basu’s Ruddhasangeet and Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s Trityo Anka Otoyeb, Surajit Bandyopadhyay has penned a docudrama on Sambhu Mitra, called Sri Sambhu Mitra, to be launched on Sunday at Madhusudan Mancha.

As in earlier biographical plays by him, Surajit seeks to provide a different perspective to the past and present. An actor of repute who divides his time between stage and screen, Surajit has based this play on various books by and on Sambhu Mitra, recollections of people close to him and an interview he had taken of the legend as a scribe at Jugantar.

Produced by Natyaranga and directed by Swapan Sengupta, this production features set design by Koushik Sen, lights by Joy Sen and music by Swatilekha Sengupta, which combines European and African melodies. Parthapratim Deb and Rupa Deb of Nandikar deliver songs from Chandbaniker Pala while Rudraprasad Sengupta contributes an introductory voiceover.

“Bengalis are equally generous with praise and censure. Sambhu Mitra, who was the first person singular of Bengali theatre, had received both in equal doses from his contemporaries. To conceive a play on him in this context is a daring and demanding job,”said Sengupta.

Unlike Ruddhasangeet, the play rests on fictional characters from Sambhu Mitra’s plays, the only “real” person being Sambhu Mitra, played by Surajit. There is therefore no Tripti Mitra but characters made famous by her like Nandini and Ela who refer to Sambhu Mitra as Raja, Antu, Amal and Raja Oedipaus.