Aamar Bahanno: Reinventing the roots

Folk music and Kobigaan bring out the connection between the rural Bangladesh and the Language Movement in the play

Conducted through e-mail and online chatting, the Contact the World project involves six youth theatre groups from six countries. These groups have their twin groups each in the UK. The Bangladeshi group Tarunya is thus paired with the Chickenshed Theatre Company in Manchester. The two groups exchanged their views, interests and cultures online in order to develop their own plays.

Directed by Sydur Rahman Lipon, Aamar Bahanno depicts the historical events of the Language Movement of 1952. The most striking feature of the play is that it consciously keeps aside the 'street-based characteristics' of the Movement in the then Dhaka and concentrates on identifying a close connection between different cultural elements of rural Bangladesh and the Language Movement. And this effort essentially contributes to the main theme of the play that Ekushey February was not only a political consequence of the tyrannical oppression by the then Pakistan government: that it was also a cultural protest against that oppression.

The play presents a young lad named Nitai who takes pleasure in sports, folk theatre and Kobigaan, a poetic song performance. His father having been killed during the riots of 1947, Nitai is lovingly raised by his mother. When the Language Movement erupts across the country, Nitai and his friends also get involved in the task of protecting the rights of the mother tongue. They voice their protest through folk songs and poetic lyrics.

Meanwhile, Nitai's mother falls ill. While Nitai becomes active in the rebellion, he comes to know that his mother is on her deathbed. Finally, his mother's death makes Nitai more firmly committed to the Movement. Eventually, the rights of the mother tongue are restored but Nitai has to sacrifice his own life.

The play wonderfully incorporates secularism, folk music of the country as well as an anti-war outlook through a blend of Euro-Asian outfits. The performers--Delwar Hossain, Mostafiz Shahin, Sweet Hasan, Sudip Chakroborthy, Taskin Binte Siddique, Sydur Rahman Lipon and Nayar Amin Lopa--all tried their best to make the production a success.

Besides the shows at British Council, Aamar Bahanno will also be staged at the IEB auditorium in Chittagong on July 17 and in Manchester on July 29.

Supported by British Council, Tarunya's effort is exemplary and praiseworthy.