Ataur Rahman: the man behind Raktokarabi

Director Ataur Rahman, who also plays the King in the play, views this achievement as very important because the group has attained it in a very short time. 'The play came to stage first on November 30, 2001,' says Ataur Rahman. 'Since we don't have many stages here, and also because at present our group holds regular shows of three plays namely Kalshandhya and Copeniker Captain along with Raktokarabi, our chance was rather limited,' explains Rahman. 'We have held a few call-shows, and we staged the play in Kolakata too on the 55th anniversary of Bahurupi,' the group of legendary Shambhu Mitra.

Regarding the play the director believes that he has been able to bring a Rabindranath's work, 'generally treated as difficult to understand and to stage', to the level understandable by any ordinary theatregoers. 'Bahurupi's production reached the height because of the Shambhu Mitra-Tripti Mitra couple,' he opines. 'My Raktokarabi is more a complete establishment play in the sense that here I have portrayed all the characters almost equally. I have presented all the characters as stuck in their own establishments. Moreover, I have tried to present the play in context of the present time--a time when "digit" rules. Humanity has declined and men--the workers--have become mere numbers.'