<a href="http://nynjbengali.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/kaachher-manush.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-532" style="float: left; margin: 4px;" title="Kaachher Manush" src="http://nynjbengali.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/kaachher-manush.jpg" alt="Kaachher Manush" /></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;">Whenever I go to Kolkata,  I make it a point to see as many theaters as possible within the short  breaks that I can manage from the hectic schedule. This summer too I had  the opportunity of watching two plays in Kolkata, “Kaachher Manush” by  Gandhar and “Srinwantu Comrades” by Nandipat. </span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;">“Kaachher Manush” is  based on a Marathi play by Dr. Sirish Athwale (translated by Kamal  Sanyal) and directed by Gautam Haldar. The play tells the story about  how two people from different social backgrounds can come close together  through a metaphoric process of healing.  Dadaseheb (a Marathi Brahmin  played by Debshankar Haldar) is suffering from a paralysis of his right  side resulting from a head injury and needs physiotherapy and  occupational therapy to recover. Savitribai, a senior dalit lady  (performed by Bijoy Lakshmi Burman), has been appointed as a nurse to  provide him with his daily therapy and help him during the day with his  household chores. </span><!--more--><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;">Dadasaheb initially opposed to this arrangement,  especially to be under the constant supervision of a lower caste lady,  but had to accept reluctantly.  And predictably enough, Dadasaheb’s  physical condition improves under the strict regimen of Savitribai and  at one point the widower Dadasheb even proposes her hand in marriage.  Dadasheb is finally cured within a week’s time when his NRI daughter  threatens to come and take him with her to USA.  The play is very well  acted by Debshankar and Bijoy Lakshmi. Debshankar’s boisterous  characterization of Dadasaheb has been well complemented by the cool and  composed Savitribai of Bijoylakhsmi.  Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay as the  son was just appropriate. However, the character of Dadasaheb’s NRI  daughter Maitrayee has been made into a stereotypical non-resident  haughty woman whose concern for her father was made into a comical  farce.  The director (and the playwright) should have paid some  attention to modern physical and occupational therapy  techniques for  the elderly, where safety and fall prevention is one of the key  objectives.  The days of challenging the patient to walk on his own  without any safety precautions is long gone with the days of black and  while romantic films of Uttam and Suchitra.  Scenes like these help the  actor to show a good deal of physical acting and even helps build  audience tension, but is not practical at all and should have come with  the notice - “Don’t try this at home with your parents.” </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;">Incidentally, Kachher  Manush was staged at the 2010 Bangamela held in Nashville, TN and then  it toured some of the mid-west cities, although it did not come to the  US east coast. </span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;">The  other play “Srinwantu Comrades” (Comrades, Lend me your ears!) is  directed by the veteran thespian, Bibhas Chakraborty.  The play  (originally written by the Russian playwright Satrov in 1977) tells the  story about a day in the life of Vladimir I Lenin in 1920, when he was  recuperating from an assassination attempt with two bullets in his body.    As the day progresses, Lenin receives visitors from his party, the  government, the bureaucrats, the labourers, the farmers and even the  socialites. And gradually Lenin realizes how his thoughts and philosophy  for creating a classless proletariat society is getting distorted. The  party, the govt and the bureaucrats are bent upon forcing socialism down  the throats of the people and choking their voice in the process. While  watching the play, one would invariably draw parallels with the current  left front govt of West Bengal and their actions in the name of   Marxism, although at the very beginning of the play it was announced  that the translator and director did not make any changes to the  original text to make it sound more relevant. The play did not have any  story line for that matter and was almost like a staged documentary. It  requires a lot of attention on the audience’s part to stay focused on  the play, as the play turns out to be talking heads for the most part. </span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;">One good thing I  noticed was that on both days the audience turn out was quite good. The  common complaint that I hear about the lack of audience was not evident  at least for these two shows. I’d recommend both the plays to anybody  who wants to watch good theater.</span>

(NOTE: This article was previously published in Ananda Sambad.)