Anil Saha’s ARSHINAGAR Director: Debasish Chakraborty

Playwright: Anil Saha
Director: Debasish Chakraborty
Group: Tala Dhrupad Natya Sanstha, Hooghly
Language: Bengali
Duration: 2 hr 10 mins

The Play
Arshinagar speaks about love and true emotions. In this era, where love has been commoditized, this story talks about the real definition of love and the magic it can create. Chaya Kumar, son of a rich merchant has to leave his wife on the next day of his marriage for business expansion.The newly wedded bride, Lilabati, lives with her in-laws, but feels a vacuum. But the power of love brings joy in Lilabati’s life and helps her overcome the void.

Director’s Note
Presented in a folk form, the flight of imagination in the play soars without any bondage of religion, cast or culture. To express the language of love and fathom its power, music is a vital character in this play. Various folk songs in the traditions of Jhumur, Bhadu, Tusu, Sari, Jari and Sufi are wonderfully tuned in the atmosphere through which the story runs smoothly. Various workshops and endless brainstorming sessions on choreography, costumes, light, set and editing resulted in this brilliant play.

The Director
Debasish Chakraborty, a theatre student of Sri Bivas Chakraborty since 1998, is a promising director of this generation. He joined Annya, a theatre group, under the direction of Sri Bivas Chakraborty and acted in numerous plays. He started his own theatre group Dhrupad in 2002 at Serampore. He has acted in many tele-serials. He has also acted in the feature film One, directed by Birsa Dasgupta, and performs in other theatre groups of Kolkata as well.

The Playwright
Anil Saha was born in Bagbazar, Kolkata. He is a retired employee of State Bank of India. He joined a theatre workshop and is now a full-time theatre worker. He has acted in many plays and has been writing plays for 30 years.

The Group
Tala Dhrupad Natya Sanstha started its theatre journey in 2002. The group has produced Simantika written by the eminent dramatist Chandan Sen, Hastabud dramatized by Pradip Moulik and based on the story of Sahajad Firdous, The Numbers based on Nikolai Gogol’s story, Ranger Haat by Manoj Mitra, Bodli by Anil Saha, Bhan by Amiya Chattaraj, Uro Megh by Mohit Chattopadhyay, Punajjanma by Dwijendralal Roy and many more.

Cast & Credits
Chaya Kumar: Dhrubo Adhikari
Lilabati: Shreya Biswas
DebokiNandan: Arup Manna
Surobhi Devi: Mita Roy
Sarkar Mosai: Jayanta Chattopadhyay
Bhnaru: Biswanath Saha
Kanai: Parikshit Chattopadhyay
Maya Kumar: Jayanta Chakraborty
Raja & Sutrodhar: Debasish Chakraborty
Paharadar Gautam: Bikash Chandra
Panchir Maa: Mausumi Goswami/Sanchita Singha Roy
Sokhi Dol Poulobi: Sarkar Gupta, Moumita Chakraborty Basu, Priyanka Dey, Sukla Pal, Sanchari Singha Roy
Grambasi: Abhijit Chatterjee, Tanay Banerjee, Wasim Ali, Suman Chakraborty, Utsab Chattopadhyay, Iman Das, Jayanta Dhar
Baul: Sourabh Dutta

Backstage: Suman Mukhopadhyay, Subhankar Mukherjee, Tapan Mallick
Lyrics & Music: Bhaskar Choudhury
Choreography: Abhijit Mahato
Light: Debabrata Sarkar
Set: Moni Shankar
Make-up: Pratap Roy
Title: Utpal Ghosh
Harmonium: Subir Sanyal
Rhythm: Tanmoy Sashmal
Sound: Control Bivas Gupta
Photograph: Sumanta Bora

Playwright: Anil Saha
Director: Debasish Chakraborty