Sangkranti

A scene from the play Sangkranti

In Sangkranti, playwright Mamunur Rashid portrays the realistic scenario of the plight of village artistes known as Shangs, who live in the greater Mymensingh region. The aim of the playwright is to save the decaying indigenous art form. The Shang artistes are general farmers, but their art has a unique quality and deserves a place in the history of drama.

It is well known that art is sharp weapon against oppressors. The theme of this play revolves around the struggle of the artistes against the oppressors. The playwright has successfully presented the social structure of rural Bangladesh based on feudalism. However, in some sequences, sufferings of the Shangs seem to be melodramatic.

Once more, Mamunur Rashid shows his talent as a director in the play. The way Mamun has handled the transformation of characters of the play for different sequences are appreciable. However, the play loses its required pace at the end.

Set-design by Faiz Zahir is very simple but artistic. A replica of a Shang in colourful torn and tattered cloth is used as the set.

In the sequence when the character Bedona expresses her desire for a child in her lonely life, light designer Thandu Rayhan catches her emotions by using shadow-light effects appropriately. But, at times the light settings and the symbolic colours need to be modified as the expressions of the performers are not clear.

Aranyak Natya Dal always supports new talents. In this play also we see some promising young performers. AKM Hasan as central character Gafur, along with Chanchal Chowdhury, Shah Alam Dulal and Apple performed well.