Jyoti Prasad Agarwala’s Play: Manimugdha

Playwright: Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
Director: Himangshu Prasad Das
Group: Guernica Creatovista, Kamrup (Assam)
Language: Assamese
Duration: 1 hr 5 mins

The Play
Manimugdha is the central character of our version of Rupalim, a timeless play written by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, one of the torch-bearers of the literary and cultural field of Assam. Originally, Rupalim is a play based on the love story of a pure hearted young girl, Rupalim, who becomes a victim of the complexity of relationships and its outcome, and is brutally put to death for being in the quagmire of love, obduracy and humiliation. Battered between the psychological dilemma of good and evil, the multi-dimensional character, Manimugdha, is one of the best creations of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and has been widely discussed. We have made an effort to cast a glance around our surroundings through the dilemma of Manimugdha.

Director’s Note
We have made an effort to depict the core theme along with a few additional scenes rather than staging the original one as it is. New dialogues have been incorporated considering the need of the hour. All the plays of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala are famous for their abundance in song and dance. We are trying to maintain the footprints of his direction in our play Manimugdha. The music has been composed with the salient features of his songs as the backdrop. We have made a sincere effort to capture the verse-like feature in the scene depiction, complying with Jyoti Prasad’s literature.

The Director
Himangshu Prasad Das is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. He is known for his progressive outlook and varied approach. He has tried to strike a balance between works of critical acclaim and mass appeal. He is associated with the street-play movement and has done a thousand shows of a play in various locations in a single day. A popular play written and directed by him is Moi Shah Rukh Khan Hobo Khuju. Himangshu has conducted many workshops and training sessions through the length and breadth of Assam. He has established a theatre village in Mirza, 50 kms from Guwahati. In 2007 he formed his own drama group Guernica. Along with theatre excellence, he also has to his credit published volumes of poetry and regular contribution to newspapers on topics of social interest.

The Playwright
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala was a prominent modern Assamese literature writer in the pre-independence era who created history for Assam by writing, directing, filming, editing and producing the first Assamese film Joymoti in 1935. He wrote a number of plays including Sonit Kunwari, Lovitaa, Karengar Ligiri, Nimati Koina etc. He composed a unique style of songs in which every song starts with the same note. This is now known as ‘Jyoti Sangeet’. A humanitarian, and harbinger of new and modern thought, he is popularly known as ‘Rupkonwar’.

The Group
Himangshu Prasad Das started his own theatre group Guernica in 2007. This group has done quite a few plays, some of which are its original productions. A very successful production of the group is Moi Shah Rukh Khan Hobo Khuju. The group performed one thousand shows of a street-play in various locations in a single day. The group has a theatre village where the students have residential quarters, library and classrooms where various courses in theatre are pursued by students.

Cast & Credits
On Stage Narayan Baishya
Apurba Barman
Rupamjyoti Das
Pradip Kalita
Pranabjyoti Das
Ayub Ali Sarma
Paramananda Saikia
Anamika Sarania
Pranami Bora
Bandita Sarma
Mamata Das
Puja Kaibortya
Sikha Thakuriya

Off Stage Pranab Kalita, Jyoti Prasad Das, Prasanta Bora
Design & Choreography Pranami Bora
Music Design & Operator Arnab Bashistha
Light Design & Scenography Mintu Bora

Playwright Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
Director Himangshu Prasad Das

Contacts
Director
Guernica Creatovista
Amranga, Borihat, Distt. Kamrup
Pin – 781125, Assam
M: +91 9101255217, 8638260589
E: pranami18@gmail.com