Rajar Chithi : A Playwright’s Note

June 9, 2011 on 1:54 pm | In Generic | 1 Comment
Rabindranath Tagore in Berkeley CaliforniaAbout a year and half ago, when I was researching on Rabindranath Tagore’s visits to the USA, an incident caught my attention. It said, that apparently there was an assassination attempt on Rabindranath by some Indians during his visit to San Francisco in October of 1916. This piece of information shocked me to say the least and I started to dig into the matter further. I looked into several books on Tagore by well regarded scholars and slowly an image started to take shape. I’ll refrain myself from getting into the details of the various accounts published in several books (you may look for them in the attached bibliography), but just to put matters in context I’ll quote some references:

Continue reading Rajar Chithi : A Playwright’s Note…

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Badal Sircar - The Maverick of Indian Theatre

June 4, 2011 on 1:26 am | In Generic | No Comments

Badal SircarOn 13th of May 2001, when the entire state of West Bengal was experiencing the euphoria of change, the landscape of Bengali theatre also changed forever. Badal Sircar, the maverick of Indian theatre, passed away almost unnoticed. But I am not going to write an obituary of Badal Sircar, neither I am going to write his biography. Rather I’d like to share with you my experiences with this theater personality through his work and from few of my personal interactions with him.

My first experience with Badal Sircar was when I was a child. In our campus (I grew up in IIT Kharagpur campus) the faculty, staff and students often staged plays and I think it was with “Boro Pishima” I first experienced theatre and it changed my life in many ways forever. Later I saw “Solution X” where my mother also participated in one of the lead characters. Few years later, when I was in high school, I went to see a student’s production (TDS _- Technology Dramatic Society) and was shaken to the core to see “Michhil” performed. It was an experience that I could never have expected. For the first time I realized that theater does not require a stage, does not require any expensive sets, any lights or any sophisticated sounds. All it needs are performers and an audience. And in most cases, the barrier between a performer and audience faded away - they became one whole theatrical entity.  I also learned the term “Third Theatre”. The apparent simplicity of these production made me think, can theatre be so easy?  My friends and I started to produce Badal Sircar, “Michhil”, “Bhoma” and others. We even started performing regular proscenium kind of plays in third theatre form. Continue reading Badal Sircar - The Maverick of Indian Theatre…

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Rajar Chithi

May 16, 2011 on 7:19 pm | In Events | No Comments

ECTA Celebrates Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th Birth Anniversary with “Rajar Chithi”

ECTA celebrates the great Indian Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary with a new play “Rajar Chithi’ (Letter from the King - a play in Bengali with subtitles in English) at the Edison Valley Playhouse, 2196 Oak Tree Road, Edison NJ on June 11th (6.30pm), and 12th (5:00pm). Tickets are $20.00 and can be reserved by email to bhawmik@gmail.com or online at http://ecta.ticketleap.com/rajar-chithi.

During Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to San Francisco in 1916, media reports claim that there was an attempt by Indian nationalists to assassinate Tagore. Fortunately the plan did not succeed and the poet was provided with high level security by the local administration. It was further reported that the primary cause for their failure was that the nationalists could not agree amongst themselves as to whether they should carry out the assassination.  But was it really a failure that they couldn’t assassinate Tagore? Or was it the right thing to do?

The play “Rajar Chithi” is a fictional account of the moral, ideological and psychological conflicts these nationalist freedom fighters of India possibly had to experience to arrive at this decision.  The play also offers a deep insight into the social, political and philosophical influence Tagore had on the people at a time when the entire World was going through a great turmoil.

The play is written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik.  The cast includes some very talented stage actors like Subhodev Das, Pinaki Datta and Piu Majumdar.

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Rajar Chithi

May 16, 2011 on 7:19 pm | In Events | No Comments
June 11, 2011
6:30 pmto8:30 pm
June 12, 2011
5:00 pmto7:00 pm

ECTA Celebrates Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th Birth Anniversary with “Rajar Chithi”

ECTA celebrates the great Indian Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary with a new play “Rajar Chithi’ (Letter from the King - a play in Bengali with subtitles in English) at the Edison Valley Playhouse, 2196 Oak Tree Road, Edison NJ on June 11th (6.30pm), and 12th (5:00pm). Tickets are $20.00 and can be reserved by email to bhawmik@gmail.com or online at http://ecta.ticketleap.com/rajar-chithi.

During Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to San Francisco in 1916, media reports claim that there was an attempt by Indian nationalists to assassinate Tagore. Fortunately the plan did not succeed and the poet was provided with high level security by the local administration. It was further reported that the primary cause for their failure was that the nationalists could not agree amongst themselves as to whether they should carry out the assassination.  But was it really a failure that they couldn’t assassinate Tagore? Or was it the right thing to do?

The play “Rajar Chithi” is a fictional account of the moral, ideological and psychological conflicts these nationalist freedom fighters of India possibly had to experience to arrive at this decision.  The play also offers a deep insight into the social, political and philosophical influence Tagore had on the people at a time when the entire World was going through a great turmoil.

The play is written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik.  The cast includes some very talented stage actors like Subhodev Das, Pinaki Datta and Piu Majumdar.

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Raag-Rang Concert

April 11, 2011 on 2:50 pm | In Events | No Comments
June 4, 2011
4:00 pmto8:00 pm

Raag-Rang is proud to present a magical afternoon of Music and Dance.
Ganesh Vandana (dance presentation) by the students of Guru Divya Yelluri (Kuchipudi)
Tabla Duet by Amod Dandawate and Pratik Devasthale with Kedar Naphade on harmonium
Darbari Ensemble by Pt Ramesh Mishra (Sarengi), Allyn Miner (Sitar),
Steve Gorn(Flute) and Dibyarka Chatterjee (Tabla).
Date– 4th June 2011
Time 4 pm Sharp.
Venue— Balaji Temple community center auditorium.
Donation:  Non-members–$20.00, $10.00 (Kids below 12 years)
Members–$15.00, $7.00(Kids).

RSVP will be appreciated.
Contact: email: manritdev@yahoo.com,   gpai03@gmail.com,  devang42@yahoo.com
Contact numbers: (908)-429-1120,  (609)-890-4890,   (908)-240-8289.
Call (908)-429-1120,

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