Syed Shamsul Haque’s play Banglar Mati Banglar Jal features Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s biography, especially from the episode of his life when he just returned from abroad and visited the land areas, now part of Bangladesh, to perform the responsibility of his inherited land ownership.
The play analyses the significance of the visit on the literary works of Tagore.
Palakar staged the play, directed by Ataur Rahman, on the fourth day of the ongoing Syed Shamsul Haque theatre festival, organised by Prangonemor at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Drawing reference from the collection of letters titled Chinnapatra Tagore wrote to his niece Indira Devi, the play reveals how the young Tagore encountered the beauty and people of this region and got captivated by them. The play also depicted how the splendour of East Bengla influenced the poet in creating songs, stories and verses including his remarkable song Amar sonar bangla ami tomay bhalobashi, which he penned when he came across a baul Gagan Harkara singing Ami kothai pabo tare amar moner manush je re.
About the play, director Ataur Rahman said, ‘The play is full of description of natural beauties and it was a challenge for me to transform these breathtaking scenes from the text to the depiction of the play on stage.’
However, Rahman has successfully overcome all the challenges and presented a play that visually appealed to the audience. Utilisation light and shadow on the background curtain portraying clouds, trees and rivers of Bangla transported the viewers to a different world. Sudden appearance of Bajra, a kind of huge boat that Tagore used to visit places, on stage also surprised the spectators. Actor in the role of Tagore Shamin Sagor’s physical resemblance to the actual poet also made the character more credible.
Use of Tagore songs Sundoro hey sundoro, Amar mukti aloi aloi, and few others for backdrop music also charmed the audience. A bit of comedy flavour had also been added in a few scenes of the play, for instance a hilarious scene showing Tagore’s visit to a welcome conference organised by some rural poets, in orders to make the viewers laugh.
A hall full of audience thoroughly enjoyed the play. Obaidul Karim, a service holder, told New Age that overall he liked the play. However, he complained about the sound problem. ‘No microphone has been used; therefore, we, who sat far from the stage, had difficulties to understand the dialogues.’
Sharmin Mahmud, a student, observed that she found depiction of Rabindranath Tagore very realistic.
-With New Age input
