Raktokarabi: Nagorik's landmark production

Aupi Karim as Nandini and Khaled Khan as Bishu in Raktokarabi

Like all Rabindranath Tagore's plays, his Raktokarabi is also highly enriched with symbolic suggestions and interpretations of life. The bright red flower, after which the play is named, is the symbol of joy and freedom in the midst of the greyish world of Jakkhopuri where the play takes place. Similarly, the raktokarabi-adorned Nandini becomes the inevitable source of life force enlightened with emancipation from the grim bondage of oppression and slavery.

Jakkhopuri is said in the myths to be the place where treasurers of Jakkho, the god of wealth, are hidden. Capricorn King employs miners to excavate these treasures. Several Sarders supervise the work with the help of whips. Ironical enough, the miners are all recognised here by their numbers rather than names: Bishu, Fagulal, the Boy and all the workers bear numbers on the back of their uniforms.

In this grim atmosphere of the Jakkhopuri, however, the presence of Nandini is like a restless streamlet--the source of joy and hope, beauty and love, trust, solace and profound honesty. She is also the embodiment of womanhood and love to which are attracted all the characters. Bishu's songs find an outlet for his happy sorrows through her. The meaning of the Boy's life seems to him to be confined in giving Nandini her favourite flowers before anyone. The King, too, seeks self-realisation from the confrontation between his rudeness and Nandini's deep affection. Even the Sarder at times is about to surrender to this young girl's innocence; his final betray with Nandini and the King results from the conflict between his ego and Nandini's negligence of him.

Aupi Karim's deep involvement with her role as Nandini produced a superb performance in the show. Khaled Khan as Bishu, Lutfar Rahman George as Fagulal and Gazi Rakayet as the Sarder performed well too. The very brief comic relief by the character of the Morol (village head) was enjoyable.

Rabindranath's play always means some brilliant pieces of music too. Live performance of songs like Bhalobashi bhalobashi, Ogo mohon tomar uttoriyo, Poush toder daak diyechhe, Praner manush achhey praney, Rangiye diye jao and Tomay gaan shonabo by Khaled Khan and Aupi Karim added brilliance to the various background sound effects. Especially the sequence of Tomay gaan shonabo will remain one of the most romantic moments in theatre of Bangladesh.

The expensive set of Saiful Islam realistically projects the darkish alleys of mines. The prevailing grey colour also corresponds to the imminent grim atmosphere of the play. Light design of Nasirul Haque Khokon is also almost flawless.

A couple of directorial indecision has, however, slightly affected the perfection of the play. Firstly, the necessity of using a microphone to produce the grave echoing voice of the King is understandable. But the visibility of the microphone somewhat spoils the illusion of that gravity. Secondly, Aupi's whispering to the background song while dancing seems a little awkward. The sequence probably should require her dancing to the tune either silently or singing in full voice.

Over all, the show surely paves the way for more successful productions by Nagorik in future.