JOIN USThere is a certain charm about old classics in Indian theatre. The portrayal of the countryside, rural women, belief in ghosts and spirits and the cruel kisan-zamindar relation; and if it happens to be a comedy, then it promises to be all the more fun.
The acclaimed Shri Ram Centre Repertory Company (SRCRC) presented Bagia Banchharam Ki recently, and did full justice to the gem.
Bagia Banchharam Ki was written in 1977 by one of Bengal’s leading dramatists Manoj
Mitra. In fact, it is said that Bagia… established him as an excellent playwright, director and actor for the first time. Since then, the play has travelled all over the country with several troupes besides Mitra’s own Sundaram.
The SRCRC adopted it about three years ago under the able direction of another accomplished director Baharul Islam, and has been staging it since. In fact, this was the 26th rendition of Bagia Banchharam Ki by this group, and the audience loved it as always.
The story is simple and witty. 90-year-old farmer Banchharam owns a bagia (garden) which he has tended to all his life. The village zamindar Chhekori died waiting to be able to grab this property and now his son Naukori is looking forward to accomplish what his father couldn’t.
Banchharam’s grandson Gopi – an unemployed youth, is also nursing dreams of setting up a liquor vend here and on learning this Banchharam kicks him out of the garden.
Now, Naukori finds an opportunity here and offers the old and unwell farmer Rs. 2000 every month in return for the rights to this property after Banchharam’s death.
All is going well - Banchharam is turning weaker by the day due to his illness and Naukori is hoping every installment to be the last, when comes the twist in the tale.
Gopi arrives with his newly-wed wife - Padma- a clever village belle who starts looking after Banchharam and returning him to health.
The play is marked by excellent comic scripting and remarkable performance by each actor. In the first half of the play Sameep Singh portrays an unwell Banchharam who has crooked limbs, can not stand on his feet and drags himself throughout the stage. As he later told us, “I never saw how Manoj Mitra performed the role of Banchharam in this play but came up with my own innovations like twisted limbs and constant quivering of the body. It is indeed very difficult but lends authenticity to the role. Recently, some theatre lovers from Bengal who had seen Mitra play this role, saw me perform here and told me that they did not miss Mitra at all.”
Another notable actor in this play was Pushplata who played Banchharam’s intelligent and charming granddaughter-in-law Padma.
She says, “I have performed in a lot of plays before but acting in Bagia… is an honour. Also, comedy is always difficult to do as your timing has to be perfect, otherwise the joke is lost. However, it makes all the practice worthwhile to see the audience laughing and enjoying themselves. We hope to play Bagia… many times over in the years to come and keep this classic alive for theatre lovers of all generations.”
We certainly wish the play and its actors a long life too.