The Show Must Go On

If a man hailing from Kolkata is asked to describe his city, he will perhaps start with the phrase – “Amar shohor, amar bhalobasha!” (My city, my love). He will essay his city as a beautiful song, as a fierce dance, or may be even as a rousing on-stage drama. A substantial share of this passion can be attributed to the literary activities that surround the city since time immemorial. The city has, after all, nurtured many a creative genius in the fields of literature, art, music and theatre. These creative minds have never shied away in splashing a varied range of colours on the open canvas of the city, thereby creating a chaos of ideas, feelings and expressions. In the heart of this literary bustle, is the theatre revolution of Kolkata, standing tall as one of the main pillars of its history and heritage. The roots of theatre delve much deeper than merely being a form of entertainment or an extra-curricular activity for college kids – it has been a movement, a game-changer and a force to reckon with in the socio-political set-up of the city. But one cannot help but wonder, whether the standing of theatre in Kolkata is the same as it had been 30 years back? Has it been able to stand the test of time?

These questions can easily be answered if one visits Shubhasatya Guptabhaya for a small chit-chat session or ‘Adda’, post one of his performances at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata. A retired Bank Officer now, Shubha Guptabhaya or ‘Shubho Da’, as many lovingly call him, is a theatre veteran who has been an integral part of the theatre uprising of Bengal, witnessing and blending with the changing times for more than four decades. Having travelled across numerous cities for performing and propagating Bengali theatre, he literally breathes, eats and sleeps theatre. His journey began while he was just a college student, at a time when Bengal was still recuperating from the aftershocks of the Naxalite movement. An atmosphere of mutiny loomed large in the streets of Kolkata and political uprisings were almost a household name. Amidst this unrest, the purpose of theatre was to generate awareness, to create a stir and to raise a voice, which would otherwise not be heard in the cacophony of the war amongst the power lords. “A friend of mine casually invited me to one of his rehearsals”, he says. This is how he was introduced to the theatre group named ‘Sansaptak’. “We were obviously in a very impressionable age and theatre attracted us easily. It was a thrilling adventure for us! We wanted to be seen, to be heard and to craft a change.” 

Shubho Da recalls, that it was a play based on the ‘Tebhaga Andolan’, i.e. the ‘Sharing by Thirds’ movement steered by the Kisan Sabha in the 1940’s, which was his first among the many adventures that he experienced with this theatre group. “We were iconoclasts from the very start”, he says. In such a set up, street plays were quite in demand and were considered as impactful as political demonstrations. “We staged many plays in the streets of Gariahat, at Jadavpur University, at the ISI Campus, Sealdah Station and the likes. In fact, the first street play he had been a part of, was staged at a time when some of his peers had been locked up by the police in course of direct clashes during a rally against the government. The play was written to bring out the harsh reality of inconsiderate government laws and to urge the government to grant freedom to their peers. Needless to say, the plays in that era centred around making political impacts – a topic that even today, finds its way in most dinner table discussions of a Bengali household. Through scripts, narratives and illustrations, Shubho Da and his group voiced their own rebellion. He calls it ‘The Group Theatre Movement’. “At that time, there was no Facebook or Twitter”, he says. “All we had was the theatre”.

In fact, he says, theatre and politics were entwined in an uncanny relationship. Politicians feared theatre personalities almost to the same degree as journalists! He pauses to illustrate the brouhaha encircling a play called ‘Kallol’ (The Wave), which was written and staged in 1965 by Utpal Dutt, one of the theatre power personalities of Bengal. The play, which weaved a story about the mutiny led by Indian Navy against the British in 1945, carved out the brutalities of the rebellion, whilst uncovering many political secrets of the then Congress led Government. The government was taken aback, so much so that they had banished the play from being staged for a considerable period of time. Utpal Dutt was jailed for a period of 6 months, following the controversies. But the uproar amongst the audience could not be contained. People came out on the streets in support of the play with slogans such as ‘Kallol cholchhe, cholbe” (Kallol is unstoppable). The government was forced to allow the play to be open once more – such was the clout of theatre.

Political expressions of this kind in theatre, were not a characteristic only of Bengal, he says. Theatres of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Manipur were as fearless, raising quite the storm. He narrates one of his most unnerving experiences of a Manipuri theatre, which was staged to bring out the atrocities of the Assam Rifles unit of the Indian Army on Manipuri citizens. As history would tell, a certain sect of these soldiers misused their powers and rummaged through tribal settlements of Manipur, torturing and raping the womenfolk. He says that in the concluding scene of the play, the female lead enters the stage, draped only in a shawl. As her last ray of hope fades out, she quietly turns towards the troops surrounding her on stage, keeping her back to the audience and undrapes her shawl to reveal her bare body. Her extreme helplessness reverberates through the entire stadium, with pin drop silence amongst the audience. The scene, he says, will remain etched in his memory forever for its boldness, its rawness and its sheer ability to enthrall the audience.

On a lighter note, he says, there were other interesting phases in Bengali theatre as well, which were as popular, if not more. He fondly remembers the era of ‘Absurd Drama’ started by theatre legend and his mentor, Shyamal Ghosh. As the name suggests, the plays in the genre were typified by absolutely absurd, unbelievable and disconnected stories, which, somehow, sent out a meaningful message to the audience, upon conclusion. When asked if he remembers any fun stories from his stage shows, his reply comes promptly – “Oh, there are so many!” He goes on to recite the story of a play, where one of the leads had been missing in action for long during the rehearsal period. They were naturally upset and scouted for a replacement, assuming that the boy had fled. One fine day, the boy re-appeared at their rehearsal, citing excuses for his prolonged unauthorized absence. “Tui ebar bari ja” (you may go home), was Shubho Da’s reply, when he wanted to join back. The replacement in place, the rehearsals continued merrily. Surprisingly, on the day of the show, they suddenly found that boy in the green room, dressed fully in character! “He was making the replacement nervous,” Shubho Da exclaims. But they were determined, to not let him participate at all and throughout the show, one of the fellow actors was kept on boy-watch to ensure that he is kept away from the stage. As the first half wrapped up, two of their co-actors, who were incidentally playing the role of police officers, dragged the boy out of the auditorium, while still dressed in their theatre costume. The first cab they caught hold of immediately agreed to take the boy to the destination which the apparent police officers specified, without asking any questions. “After all, theatre allows you to be a person you are not,” he says in glee.

Over the years, the spectrum of theatre has evolved to incorporate the changing contours of politics, the society and the audience as a whole. As the need for political rebellion slowed down, theatre too adapted itself to showcase romance, comedy and the likes, rather than being a medium of fearless statements. At present, he says, the Central Government provides special grants to many theatre groups, which enables them to function without worrying about budget, in sharp contrast to the yesteryears, when the pockets of the theatre artists often did not agree with their ambitions. “Thirst for theatre was enough to drive us,” he says. 

Kolkata still boasts of quite a collection of theatre artists, who aim to sensitise the audience with their stellar performances. He talks about a play called ‘Vaijayantika’, which he had recently been part of, staged by the theatre group ‘Shudrak’ in Kolkata. The story of the play revolves around the incident of a student, who goes missing from the campus of a Central University. The striking similarity of the story with that of Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing from the campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, cannot be missed. “But change is the only constant,” he stresses. He founded the Salt Lake Association for Creative Theatre (Salt lake ACT), which enabled him to carry new and fresh stories beyond the city of joy under his direction, for a span of 10 years. “I have been fortunate to showcase the theatre of Bengal in other cities like Mumbai, and even other countries like Bangladesh and the UAE”, he says. Needless to say, he has been part of many theatre groups which have been formed and dissolved, as it is with nature. “The only thing that has not changed is perhaps the dynamics in the rehearsal room – the thrill of staging something exciting, the playful banters with co-performers and the discussions over tea and snacks are just the same, even today.”

The story of Shubho Da does not stop at staging of shows in various corners of the city. Taking his knowledge of theatre, he is now associated with ‘Shumpun Foundation’, an organization who aims at providing education, play and speech therapy to Autistic children. On any Sunday morning, one can find him patiently teaching a class of students in Shumpun’s Office at Kankurgachi, Kolkata, through the medium of role play. “Say, your costume for today comprises of a white lab coat and a stethoscope. So, what are you playing today?” he asks, playfully. The children take guesses and ultimately arrive at the right answer. He feels content to have been part of many success stories of Shumpun Foundation. “Many children have completed schools and have shown exceptional skills in various fields,” he stresses. “These are milestone achievements and my treasures, just like the paper cuttings I have preserved, of appreciation I received in the last few decades. It has been more than a satisfying journey so far.” It seems as if both Shubho Da and Bengali theatre have adapted and grown with the changing times. If asked whether he misses the olden days, he always replies with a smile – “Not at all. It’s a new age, a new start. There is no stopping. The show must go on!”