My name is Gauharjan by Sumitro Banerjee

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The Play

The play is an autobiography of Gauharjan, who was a famous classical singer of India. She was born in 1873 in Ajamgarh. Her mother Malkajan too was a renowned classical singer. In 1883 Malka came to Calcutta to perform and settled there permanently. During her stay in Calcutta with her mother,Gauharjan developed a keen interest in singing and dancing. Gradually she became a famous classical  singer.

Director’s Note

The inherent blessings of God introduced Gauharjan to the country and the world. Her reations & presentations in Hindustani Classical Music brought about the recognition of Gauharjan  world-wide. But to achieve mental peace & happiness Gauharjan stopped performing, and decided to embrace love and lead a social life. But the pious desire of Gauharjan ended in smoke. Except for Amrit Keshab Nayak (the famous playwright, director and hero of Gujarati & Hindi Theatre) who died soon after they met, she could not find any man whom she could truly love. She was deceived on the pretext of love by other men. The play deals with the miseries of her later life.

Director
Priyanku Sekhar Das achieved success early in life as an actor by performances in various plays. As an Assistant Director he has successfully assisted in the direction of plays like Bharat Puran, Desodrohi, Dak Ghar. As a director he has directed Sesh Adhyaya, Jagaran Pala and My name is Gauharjan.

The Playwright

Sumitro Banerjee is the founder director of Sanyogsutra, a theatre group. He has done his masters in Buddhist studies and Mass Communication from Calcutta and Rabindra Bharati University. His early play Jhara Somoyer Kabyo (Based on the life and times of Mirza Ghalib) received the prestigious Sundaram award. Some of his major plays are Birpurus, Muche Jaoa Din Guli, and My Name Is Gauharjan. Sumitro has participated in national and international workshops and seminars organized by NSD, Delhi and other institutions.

Translator

Sri Sandip Bagchi has been writing, translating and producing plays since his youth. He trans created Macbeth in Bengali as Mobarak. He has written almost a dozen plays. Some of his popular productions are Raja Krishnanath, Bhor, The Car of Time and Siraj.

The Group

Prantik is a registered theatre group of Berhampore, Murshidabad, West Bengal. Since 1968 Prantik is organizing workshops and producing plays regularly. It has bagged many awards and certificates of excellence for various productions. Prantik is known for its milestone production Nana Hey in 1978. The popularity of Prantik has reached its zenith by staging the play My name is Gauharjan.

Cast & Credits

Gauhar (Child) : Oshiaan Das Bhattacharya
Gauhar (Teen) : Oishi Bhattacharya
Gauhar (Young) : Ranita Lahiri/Piyali Roychowdhury
Gauhar (Senior) & Malkajan : Jhulan Bhattacharjee
Salma : Ritwika Bhattacharjee / Ananya Rajbanshi
Ashia : Swasti Bhattacharya
Rehena : Ishani Bhattacharya
Bhaglu : Ardhendu Majumder
Ganesh Chandra Chandra/Moulana Sowkat Ali : Tapan Jyoti Das
Goswami : Priyanku Sekhar Das
Bose : Goutam Majumder
Roy Sahab/Ganpat Rou : Goutam Bhattacharya
Mitra : Bidyut Baran Mahajan
Representatives : Sadhan Roy, Sidhartha Mahajan
Chagon : Anwar Hossain
Abbas : Somnath Bhattacharya
Tabla Assit. :  Amit Moitra
Maid : Moumita Saha
Set & Light : Shyamaprasahad Bandhyopadhy
Set & Assistant : Rahul Das, Srabon Saha
Set Drawing : Soumen Mondal
Music : Subhamoy Bandhyopadhy
Make-up : Kanai Routh, Praloy Routh

Music Execution : Kajal Mondal
Costume : Jhulan Bhattacharya
Dresser : Abanish Chandra Sinha, Moumita Saha
Technical Assistant : Nilanjan Pandey
Still Photography : Tamoghnajyoti Das
Team Manager : Sabir Zaman

Playwright : Sumitro Banerjee
Editing, Design & Direction : Priyanku Sekhar Das

Manohar Khushalani

Manohar Khushalani

Prof. Manohar Khushalani is a former Visiting Faculty at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The courses he taught were: Animation & Graphics, Non-Linear Editing for Film and Radio and Theatre Appreciation.  He has won a total of nine Excellence in Teaching awards for all the courses he has taught at IIITD Earlier he retired from Government of India as Director Environment Management, Central Water Commission and held many senior positions in the Government Based on a Belief that Culture and Environment are the two keys to global sustainability , Manohar Khushalani has launched two portals: A Portal on Environment and Water called One Vorld at url: www.onevorld.org and two Ezines on Culture called Stage Buzz at url: www.stagebuzz.in He has taught extensively in varied subjects such as Dam Safety, Instrumentation, CAD, IT, Animation, Theatre, Newspaper Editing. He has conducted Courses on Environment Management, Water Shed Development, Team Building and Personality Development. He was an Expert Member of Prasar Bharti’s Committee for Grading & Short listing Films for Telecast on all channels of Doordarshan.  He is a Radio Anchor for All India Radio and has moderated several programs for the Rajdhani Channel He is a well-known Theatre Actor/Director and Critic, has been involved in theatre since 1977. He has worked as an actor in over 50 plays with almost every leading director/Actor in the Country including Badal Sircar, Feisal Alkazi, Amal Allana, M.K. Raina, Anuradha Kapoor, Maya Rao, Manohar Singh, Prasanna, Rati Bartholomew and Sushmita Mukherji. He has been active in the social sector as a street theatre activist. As a member of Workshop Theatre, Theatre Union and Prayog, Khushalani has participated in street plays taking up major social issues such as dowry, bride burning, Sati, banned medicinal drugs and communalism. Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, both directed by him, received rave notices from critics and audiences alike. Other plays directed by him include Badal Sircar’s, Sagina Mahato and Boris Vian’s Empire Builders for Ruchika Theatre Group. Khushalani has also acted in a few films such as Sudhir Mishra's Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi , Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café and Pradeep Krishan's Annie Gives Those Ones. He is an Animator & Graphics Designer and has directed a number of documentaries. He also held a number of Honorary positions and was President of North India Films Association, He was the Chairman of  Jury for UGC CEC Educational Films Competition and has been on their Preview Committee since last many years. He was on the preview committee of Door Darshan Channel 3, was a visiting Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, AJKMCRR, Jamia Milia Islamia and Professor in Media at FICT, Delhi  He has judged a large number of Drama Competitions and conducted a number of Theatre / Management Games Workshops with Institutions such as AIIMS, NTPC, CWPRS, NWA, Karve Nari Prakshishan Sansthan, FICT, IIT, MAMC, Gargi College, KNC, Tagore International School and Vivekananda School. He is a Theatre Critic for IIC Diary, has also been a Columnist with Midday and Pioneer Daily and wrote Column's Called Culture Cocktail and Footlights Respectively. He was also the Guest Editor for an issue on Folk Theatre of ICCR Journal Horizons. He has written for Times of Indian, Hindustan Times, Blitz, Hard News, Hindu Business Line, Theatre India & Art Times. He has designed dams and hydraulic structures for the Government. He is a programmer and has developed Engineering design software in Fortran. He is a co-author of Irrigation Practice & Design (Vol 1 to5 - 1500 pages) published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust. He has been a Director, Environment and Sociology, at the National Water Academy, Khadakwasla and Director, Environment Management Directorate, Central Water Commission and Member Secretary, National Environmental Monitoring Committee for River Valley Projects. He was also Director of Instrumentation Directorate in the Dam Safety Organisation. He was Chief General Manager and Head of Water Resources at Scott Wilson and is an accredited consultant with numerous other organizations He is a Delhi Public School, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi and FTI Pune Alumini. He was also the President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association, Pune.

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