Sujan Mukhopadhyay’S DON…TAKE BHALO LAGE

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Adaptation & Direction: Sujan Mukhopadhyay

Group: Chetana, Kolkata

Language: Bengali

Duration: 2 hrs 25 mins

The Play

Renowned poet, theatre director, and actor Subhomoy Dutt, has been arrested for his outrageous comments against the state, and locked in custody with other petty convicts. Subhomoy transforms the jail into a stage and starts performing the story of the ‘Mad Knight’ Don Quixote, with all the jail inmates as performers. The prison cell metamorphoses into a space of eloquent metaphors and bizarre events of Don and his mate, Sancho. Adapted into a modern day situation, this musical carnival emerges with forms like Kirtan, Flamenco, Rabindranath’s song, Rock-N-Roll, Toppa and Western Classical.

Director’s Note

“To dream, the impossible dream”… has been the quest of Don Quixote, and his squire Sancho Panza. The play begins in a local prison, where a famous playwright, actor and poet, Subhamoy Dutt, is arrested for his illegal step towards the state through his propagandist play. I wish to study today’s terror and ill-tolerance in this “play within the play” through the local jail inmates, who are waiting for their verdict. Designed as an opera, this is a hard hitting musical, questioning our reality, and arguing our existence in the modern socio-cultural situation.  

The Director & Adapter

Sujan Mukhopadhyay has acted in about 30 plays and written several scripts for theatre, television and cinema. He was awarded with Stagecraft award for Ghasiram Kotwal and Popular Viewer’s Choice Award for Don..Take Bhalo Lage. He has performed in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Chennai and all the other cities of India, and major cities of the USA, Theatre Olympics in Agartala, and Bharat Rang Mahotsav. He was awarded the Best Director and Actor awards in various competitive events. He has also directed a feature film Chocolate in Bengali (available in Netflix).

The Group

Chetana was founded in 1972. It has produced 33 full-length Plays and 13 short Plays in its journey of 46 years. Chetana received numerous awards and citation from various cultural institutions. It has organised a number of Theatre Festivals, Seminars and Workshops etc., and performed in all the districts of West Bengal and in almost all the major cities of India. Chetana has staged different plays in the Theatre Festivals organised by the National School of Drama and Sangeet Natak Akademi. It has toured USA and Canada with its productions in 1980 and 1990. Chetana performed Mareech Sanbad in Bourdeaux (France) in 1999. Sponsored by the ICCR it took part in the Ibsen International Theatre Festival held in Oslo (Norway) in 2004 and performed in London (UK) the same year.

Cast & Credits

Don/Subhomoy: Suman Mukhopadhyay   

Sancho Panza/Satyajit: Sujan Mukhopadhyay        

Aldonza: Nibedita Mukhopadhyay                           

Governor: Amitabha Ghosh                                                                                    

Inn-Keeper: Tarun Bhattacharyya                            

Dr. Carrasco: Debnath Chatterjee                              

Padree: Sushovan Guha                                             

Pedro: Rahul Sen Roy                                                 

Antonia: Sourali Ghosh                                              

House-keeper: Somrashmi Ghosh                              

Inn-Keeper’s wife: Monalisa Das                                                                     

Horse/Gypsy dancer: Beauty Das                   

Mule/Gypsy dancer: Ashmita Ghosh                                

Mother: Ruma Bakhuli

Son: Parikshit Ghosh

Police: Rajat Narayan Bhattacharya

Muleteers: Pinaki Chakraborty, Debashis Naskar, Abhisek Mukherjee, Suvajit Dutta, Krishanu Das

Guest Appearance as Barber: Arun  Mukhopadhyay

Dance:  Sudarshan Chakraborty

Music Arrangement/

Background Score: Probuddha Bandyopadhyay

Light: Soumen Chakraborty

Sound Design: Anindyo Nandy

Costume: Arnab Sengupta

Make-up: Md. Ali, Ayon Ghosh

Set Design: Sujan Mukhopadhyay

Set: Bilu Dutta

Songs: Suman Mukhopadhyay, Arun Mukhopadhyay

Musicians: Subir Sanyal, Subhodip Guha, Deeptesh Mukherjee, Daayaad Mukherjee

Translation: Arun  Mukhopadhyay

Adaptation & Direction: Sujan Mukhopadhyay

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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