Sitar Agni-porikkha enthrals the audience

The opening show of the play ‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’ was presented at the Experimental Theatre Hall of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the city on Friday.
The monodrama ‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’ was written by Saymon Zakaria and was directed by Abdul Halim Pramanik Shomrat.
‘Ramayana’ by Valmiki is the most popular epic in the Indian subcontinent. It was composed in about 400 BC. It tells the story of Rama whose wife Sita is abducted by the king of Lanka, the demon Ravana and Sita is the female protagonist in the epic.
The play ‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’ commences with the plight of Sita in the woods of Lanka. Sita, at Lanka, is kept in the heavy guard of rakshasis. Ravana asks Sita to marry him, but Sita who was forever devoted to Rama, declines. As a result, the demon king keeps trying to allure her but fails. Eventually he is defeated and killed by Rama in the fierce war of Lanka and Sita is saved. But Rama disagrees to take Sita back as his wife because he believes that she must have lost her chastity due to Ravana. Sita, the devoted wife then wants to face a fire ordeal.
‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’, the new interpretation of an epic narrative not just questions the validity of Sita’s need to pass a fire-ordeal to prove her chastity, but also shows how women, through the ages on this earth, face ordeal after ordeal in a male-dominated society.
The monodrama was performed by a noted Delhi-based theatre artiste Averee Chaurey, who has worked with the leading theatre houses in India like Bohurupee and Naya Theatre of Habib Tanvir.
In the presentation she was supported by a chorus of young and talented artistes from Bangladesh. They were Monir Ahmed Shakil, Jahedul Kabir Liton, Taskin Binte Siddiqi Sumi and Shampa Rani Bala.
The style of presentation of the play followed the characteristics of indigenous ‘Kushan Gaan’ of Kurrigram, Bangladesh which depicted the Ramayana in a vibrant form using folk songs and dances.
Jahedul Kabir Liton has composed music while Ali Ahmed Mukul and Reza Shariar has designed the set and lighting respectively.
Averee Chaurey showed her brilliant performance in the premiere and delighted the audience. The hall was packed at the maiden show of the play. Many theatre and cultural activists were also present there.
Eminent theatre and TV artiste Aly Zaker greeted Averee and the other artistes of ‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’ with bouquets of flowers at the end of the play. He congratulated Averee for her excellent performance and also praised the music composition. He welcomed Lubna Marium, general secretary of Shadhona for producing a play for the first time apart from their normal production of dance and music. President of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) Ramendu Majumder also spoke and congratulated every performer for this wonderful production.
‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’ is the seventh production of Shadhona. Shadhona – A Center for Advancement of South Asian Music and Dance jointly produced the play with the Indo-Bangla Cultural Initiative. The organisers wish that ‘Sitar Agni-porikkha’ will be staged in different states of India and also in New York, London and in many other cities across the world as well.

Courtesy of NewAgebd