Chandalika

A captivating silhouette. PHOTO: STAR

Rabindranath Tagore in his play Chandalika, an adaptation from Jatak, the collection of Buddhist stories, has portrayed the emotion of the lower caste born maid Prokrity whom upper caste people label as "untouchable." This character develops a fascination for the Buddhist monk Ananda. The genesis of the attraction can be traced back to an earlier incident where the monk was offered water by Prokrity.

Shadhana staged Chandalika, recently at the National Theatre Stage as a fund- raiser effort for the construction of the building of Chhayanaut. In her speech Sanjita Khatun, the principal of Chhayanaut, thanked the troupe for their participation.

The original story depicts how, having achieved Nirvana, Chandalika gives up her desire for Ananda. However, Tagore has not given a glimpse of Buddha or the necessity of acquiring Nirvana. His Chandalika is more humane and dramatic. At the end, when Prokrity's mother uses witchcraft to force Ananda to come to Prokrity, the latter turns down Ananda as she recognises that love cannot be achieved forcefully.

In the dance-drama production of Chandalika by Shadhana, a dance troupe, Sharmila Bandyopadhyaya performed the role of Prokrity, Lubna Marium essayed the role of Prokrity's mother while Swapan portrayed Ananda.

The most interesting feature of the dance-drama was the conflict and sharing of emotion between the mother and daughter, following the Bharatnatyam dance trend. To portray the inner feelings of Prokrity, choreographer Sharmila Bandyopadhyaya used chorus dance presentation, following Pandit Uday Shankar's dancing style, while in the witchcraft scene, the South Indian Kathakali dance trend was followed.

Rezwana Chowhdury Bannya was the music director as well as the lead vocal. Rama Mandal, Sadi Mohammed and others sang the background songs.

Costume designer Sharmila Bandyopadhyaya used colourful costumes with glitter. For Ananda and his comrades, Chibor, the typical attire of the Buddhist monks has been used.

Light designer Bhasar Bandyopadhyaya has used symbolic colour effect on the cyclorama to create the mood and tempo of the dance-drama. Using of yellow lights during the spring song however, seemed ineffective. Interestingly, he created silhouettes of the dancers, using the bouncing light effect of the cyclorama.