Rabindranath Tagore’s JAKSHAPURI Director: Pradip Bhattacharya

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Playwright: Rabindranath Tagore
Director: Pradip Bhattacharya
Group: Berhampore Repertory Theatre, Murshidabad
Language: Bengali
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins

The Play
Nandini, the protagonist of the play, is an individual, not an abstraction, but is pursued by abstraction, like one tormented by a ghost. Nandini knows that wealth and power are nothing but ‘maya’ (illusion), and that the highest expression of life is Love, which she manifests in this play in her love for Ranjan. But love-ties are ruthlessly molested by the megalomaniac ambition, while an acquisitive intellect piles its psychological curiosity, probing into the elusive mystery of love through vivisection.

Director’s Note
It is a vision that has come to me in the darkest hour of dismay. I have a stronger faith in the simple personality of man than in the prolific brood of machinery that wants to crowd everything. This personality – the divine essence of the infinite in the vessel of the finite – has its last treasure – the woman’s heart. The joy of this faith has inspired me to pour my heart into painting the portrait of Nandini as the bearer of the message of reality, the saviour through death.

The Director
Pradip Bhattacharya did M.A. (Drama) from Rabindra Bharati University. He received the National Scholarship and Senior Fellowship by CCRT, Department of Culture, Govt. of India. He is the founder, director, and Guru of Berhampore Repertory Theatre. He has written 10 full-length plays, 6 short plays, and 10 plays for children (Published in Bengali Theatre Journal of West Bengal). He has directed 40 Plays in the last 48 Years. 4 of his plays have won the Best Production of the Year 1988, 1990, 1998 & 2006 awarded by Paschimbanga Natya Akademy, Govt. of West Bengal. He has been conducting Theatre Therapy in Prison for the last 12 years at Berhampore Central Correctional Home (Jail) Govt. of West Bengal. He has directed three plays Tasher Desh, Tota Kahini, and Jakshapuri (Rakta Karabi) by Tagore. Pradip has acted in around 45 to 50 Plays. Some of the memorable characters that he has played are Socrates, Arturo Ui, etc. He has been acting in Television serials from 1994 till date, and has acted in 12 telefilms and 58 Feature Films including a foreign film Shadows of Time. He has organised several theatre workshops with Nandikar, National School of Drama (Delhi) and Max Muller Bhavan; children’s theatre workshops with local schools and orphan boys; and has been organising a National Theatre Festival from 1983 onwards. He has also made two documentary films (Diaha and Prisoner’s Dayout).

The Playwright
Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath from the Indian subcontinent. He was a poet, musician and artist. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali, he was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

The Group
Berhampore Repertory Theatre was set up on 1st January 1986. It has held many theatre festivals and almost every theatre group of India has visited Berhampore. N.S.D. Repertory Company of Delhi, Naya Theatre of Habib Tanbir, Nandikar, Bahurupee and many other groups have visited Berharmpore. It has also arranged many workshops, seminars on theatre, and has introduced school students to theatre by conducting workshops for them. In 1991 a month-long N.S.D. workshop was held at Berhampore.

Cast & Credits
Raja: Shyamal Das
Sardar: Nitai Chandra Saha
Bishu Pagol: Buddhadev Meta
Adhyapak: Uttam Das
Fagulal: Nakul Nandi
Gokul: Bidhan Das
Kishor: Nimai Halder / Sariful Sk.
Morol: Subodh Mandal
Paloan: Kashinath Mal / Azad Sk.
Prahari: Subodh Das, Abhai Mandal
Ranjan /Jharudar: Tapas Das
Gosai: Swaminath Roy
Workers: Azad Hossain, Shariful SK, Dilip SK, Firdosh Alam, Rajesh Das, Sabu SK, Tala Hembram, Jatin Mondal
Nandini – 1: Helama Bibi
Nandini – 2: Runa Bibi
Nandini – 3 / Workers Wife: Uma Dey
Chandra: Chandana Mandal
Worker’s Wife: Tultuli Bibi

Light: Srabon Saha
Music Execution: Premankur Bhattacharya
Production Controller: Keka Bhattacharyya
Asst.: Tunin Kanti Dey

Playwright: Rabindra Nath Tagore
Design & Direction: Pradip Bhattacharya

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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