Banga Sammelan 2010: A Review and Some Views
July 20, 2010 on 9:17 pm | In Arts-Culture | 1 Commentby Amitava Sen
Kallol has done it again, a very successful and thoroughly enjoyable Banga Sammelan and Kallol deserves our gratitude. We needed it, a three days’ escape from humdrum of the life and for some of us from depressing economic uncertainty. Do not forget that this is a very difficult economic time in America, never encountered since thirties. It is never far from our minds. To venture into such a huge undertaking at this difficult time takes courage and boldness; Kallol accepted the challenge and succeeded under the very able leadership of Timir Hore, Sudhir Nag and Soumen Roy. Thank you.
In contrast with all other places around the country space and accommodations are at a premium in this New York metropolitan neighborhood, holding a convention here is hugely costly proposition. Compared to other years the attendance was sparse. No surprise. Foresight and wisdom on the part of the organizers contained the event to a manageable and economically viable limit.
Continue reading Banga Sammelan 2010: A Review and Some Views…
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Bengali Theater in North America : My First Experience
June 16, 2010 on 11:11 pm | In Arts-Culture | No CommentsSince 1989 I have been involved with Bangla Theater in USA. Over the years I have worked with several groups, several associations and have been involved with several theater productions. My theater journey in this country started with the theater group Sansaptak with their production “Sabda Moho Bandhane”. The play was directed by Sakti Sengupta. Being involved with theater since my childhood, I was a bit skeptic about the theater scenario in USA when I first arrived in this country. But my first experience was not only a pleasant surprise but an extremely enjoyable one. All the stereo typical notions of expatriate Bengali theater were shattered with that production. Sakti-da took us through a complete production development process of a new play. The script was developed based on Shirshendu Mukherjee’s short stories, Sunil Ganguly and Sakti Chattopadhyay’s poems. It was not a simple narrative, but rather a complex collage of character’s, their relationships, their dreams and disillusionment. Continue reading Bengali Theater in North America : My First Experience…
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NABC 2010: A Novel Musical Program
May 26, 2010 on 6:15 pm | In Arts-Culture | No CommentsMusic and NABC go hand in hand together. Most of the events that happen at any NABC are related to music, and NABC 2010 is no exception either. A slew of musicians, like Abhijeet, Monomoy, Anik, Anwesha, Indrani Sen, Sahaj Ma, Utpal Fakir and many others will be performing at the 2010 NABC at the Atlantic City Convention center. Each performer will enchant the audiences with their solo performances on the grand stages of the convention center. However, this year the host organization Kallol of New Jersey is planning something special with these popular and talented musicians. Named as “Surer Ei Jhar Jhar Jharna”, this program will bring on stage all the musicians together to perform some of the most popular songs over the last fifty years of Bengali music. Starting with the haunting melodies of the sixties to the band music of the contemporary Bengali youth, the program will take its audience through an audio-visual journey that has never been experienced before. Continue reading NABC 2010: A Novel Musical Program…
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“Ekti Gnaye Thaki” : A Preview
May 10, 2010 on 11:34 am | In Arts-Culture, Generic | No CommentsSimanti Dasgupta
Many of us will intuitively link the title of the play to Rabindranath Tagore’s well know poem, “Ek Gnaye” and correctly so. Sambhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra particularly immortalized the poem in their rendition of it in Bidhayak Bhattacharya’s celebrated radio play, “Tahar Naamti Ranjana”. “Ekti Gnaye Thaki”, written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik, is the story of a sister, Ranjana and her brother, Rajat, reuniting after fourteen years. Rajat immigrates to the US with his family after Ranjana sponsors their green cards. The reunion is marked by its usual excitement followed by nostalgia for their “gnya” they left both behind. Rajat becomes a critical link for Ranjana to relive her past, while Ranjana helps him come to terms with his decision to abandon his familiar world in Gobindapur. Ranjana is also ill and Rajat’s presence offers a long-awaited emollient. As the brother and the sister often slip into the past, the rest of the characters are excited at the prospects of their future in the US, especially Rajat’s son, Rajib.
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Musical Chair : An Actor’s Perspective
May 5, 2010 on 12:44 am | In Arts-Culture | No Comments
I wrote the play “Musical Chair” couple of years ago for a local magazine. That time I had no intention of staging the play, rather it was written more as a piece to be read rather than acted. The theatrical format did consider the staging related logistics, but the play demanded a lot from the actors and the director. Keka Sircar took up the challenge and we decided to stage the play along with “Ekti Gnaye Thaki”. A women director can bring to a play a perspective that is unique and for a play like “Musical Chair” it is almost essential. Since all the speaking characters in this play are women, the actors too can present the material in a form that we are not accustomed to in a male dominated stage. The way the play gets interpreted and presented by the women actors can never be achieved from a male perspective.
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NABC 2010: Youth Programs
March 17, 2010 on 3:37 pm | In Arts-Culture | No CommentsOne of the greatest challenge of any NABC is to come up with events and programs that can attract and engage the the next generation of young Bengalis. Most of the cultural events that happen on the stages of NABC are of little interest to them. They need their own kind of entertainment and engagement, else they have nothing to do except hang out around the convention center with a long faces while their parents have all the fun. However, the trend seems to be changing over the last few years. The NABC organizing committees are making a conscious effort to come up with events that are targeted towards the young Bengalis of USA. Continue reading NABC 2010: Youth Programs…
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Kumar Roy Passes Away
March 2, 2010 on 11:41 pm | In Arts-Culture | No Comments
Last Sunday (Feb 28th 2010) the noted Bengali theater personality Kumar Roy died in Kolkata after a protracted heart ailment at the age of 84. Kumar-da was long associated with the theater group Bohurupee which he joined in 1949 and was a close associate of late Sambhu Mitra. He was a director, playwright and also an actor. He had done roles in several plays like ‘Gallileo’, ‘Rakta karabi’, ‘Baki Itihas’, Bisarjan and ‘Nabanna’ among others besides acting in films. He also worked as a professor at the Rabindra Bharati University. Kumar Roy also headed the Paschim Banga Natya Academy for quite some time. He had also penned many books. He was awarded the Sanget Natak Akademi award in 1983.
Although I never had the opportunity of meeting him in person, but had the good fortune of speaking to him few times. It was he who published my play “Ron” in “Bohurupi” (of which Kumar-da was the editor) the well known theater journal of Kolkata. He said how much he liked the play and thought it was an important addition to the repertoire of plays that Bohurupi has published over the years. Later, he also published another play of mine, “Satyameva”. He had asked me to meet him when I was in Kolkata. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity and I will repent it all my life. I hope and pray that his soul rests in peace.
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NJ Independent South Asian Cine Fest 2009: A Brief Report
October 14, 2009 on 6:02 pm | In Arts-Culture, Generic | No Comments
The three day long 3rd Annual New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest (NJISACF) concluded on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at the Rutgers Busch Campus Student Center. The festival does not have the clout that some of the other major films festivals around the World enjoy, but it is gradually gaining in momentum. The festival does not boast of stars and glitterati, but is more focused on quality films made by artists of South Asian descent. This year, the festival showcased around 25 films including full length features and shorts that highlighted the best works of some young and promising film makers as well as veterans like Adoor Gopalakrishnan. I, however, was able to watch only a handful of films and I’ll discuss those in this ‘attempt of a report’ of mine. I would like to welcome the readers who attended the festival to comment on the films they watched.
Continue reading NJ Independent South Asian Cine Fest 2009: A Brief Report…
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Herta Muller Awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature
October 8, 2009 on 10:33 am | In Arts-Culture | No Comments
Herta Muller, “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed” won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature. Ms. Müller, 56, emigrated to Germany in 1987 after years of persecution and censorship in Romania. She is the first German writer to win the Nobel award since Günter Grass in 1999.
Herta Müller was born on August 17, 1953 in the German-speaking town Nitzkydorf in Banat, Romania. Her parents were members of the German-speaking minority in Romania. Her father had served in the Waffen SS during World War II. Many German Romanians were deported to the Soviet Union in 1945, including Müller’s mother who spent five years in a work camp in present-day Ukraine. Many years later, in Atemschaukel (2009), Müller was to depict the exile of the German Romanians in the Soviet Union. From 1973 to 1976, Müller studied German and Romanian literature at the university in Timi?oara (Temeswar). During this period, she was associated with Aktionsgruppe Banat, a circle of young German-speaking authors who, in opposition to Ceau?escu’s dictatorship, sought freedom of speech. After completing her studies, she worked as a translator at a machine factory from 1977 to 1979. She was dismissed when she refused to be an informant for the secret police. After her dismissal, she was harassed by Securitate. Continue reading Herta Muller Awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature…
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New Jersey Durga Puja 2009 : A Review
September 30, 2009 on 4:52 pm | In Arts-Culture, Generic | 7 Comments
Finally the annual Durga Puja celebrations are over. I was mostly present at the Kallol pujo but also paid (no pun intended) short visits at the Bharat Sevashram Sangha and Anandamandir. Kallol, just like the previous year, had a full house and had to turn away several people. In one of my previous blogs I had requested, rather wished, that Kallol provide a daily ticket for people who would like to come in for a day. However, for whatever reasons, Kallol decided on the contrary and the result was that I had to listen to complaints from several disappointed friends and family. Well, rules are rules - that’s what I said.
This year I did something which I never did before. I dropped in on Thursday evening - and it was real fun. There was no pressure of showing the badge, no parking tags, no stress about reserving seats with shawls and jackets and no celebrities on stage to pay attention to. While the volunteers were busy setting up the idol and the kids busy rehearsing on the stage, I had a good time chatting with friends. For once, after a long time, I had the pleasure of pure Pujo adda - completly unadultered fun. I think we should, at least informally, start the festivities from Thursday - just to prolong the enjoyment for few more hours. Continue reading New Jersey Durga Puja 2009 : A Review…
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