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 Sharaccharu Chakram - Tapati Chowdhurie e-mail: tapatichow@yahoo.co.in December 4, 2024 On the occasion of celebrating 'Shefali'- The Autumn Festival - at G.D. Birla Sabhaghar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan invited Chidakash Kalalaya Centre for Art and Divinity to present Sharaccharu Chakram. Director G.V. Subramanian felicitated Kalamandalam Piyal Bhattacharya, the founder and artistic director of Chidakash Kalalaya for his great work. Just when the mighty and dainty clouds, pregnant with water droplets, think that they are the mightiest and the overbearing moist cold nights become unwavering about their supreme existence, lady Autumn adorned in white embarks on a journey to restore the balance of the world. The slumbering lotus blossoms wake up with the rays of the sun and paint the surrounding with their golden pollen. The beauty of the lotus blossoms melts the hearts of the lovers of nature. The call of the swans' mellifluous music leaves one in awe. Lady Autumn's appearance veiled with mist and the fresh verdure that she brings with her has always been mesmerizing. Autumn was personified in a unique way in Sharaccharu Chakram. Poets and philosophers have always eulogised Autumn. Time is personified as a lone traveller who is also a storyteller. Poets can hear and feel the unspoken narratives made by Time. They have composed inimitable pieces in verse or poetic prose about them to communicate to the rest of humanity about their profound philosophies.  Chidakash Kalalaya has intelligently and imaginatively tried to understand, comprehend and feel from the selected works of some of the creative minds and explore the nuances of Autumn. The choreographer has aesthetically unravelled the myriads of lores Time has journeyed through showing the metamorphosis of life from one form to the other. He has explored the rhyme and rhythm of Autumn, with his keen study of Bhatti, Magh, Krittibash, Valmiki, Biharilal, and several other cognoscenti to understand the season. What came out as a process of those fervent learnings is 'Sharaccharu Chakram'. Sharaccharu Chakram offered a bouquet to rasikas, where Autumn was observed both as a season and as a person whose trajectory is of great help to understand how as human beings we are conjoined with nature and any imbalance in nature can cause imbalance in us. Sharaccharu Chakram envisages a path traversing through Sanskrit to Medieval Hindi, to versed Bangla to reveal various connotations of Autumn. Chidakash Kalalay believes that this would give us a sense of serenity which would unite us amidst the exuberance of nature. To bring the story of Autumn alive to the audience, the actors made their actions realistic to life. The story practically took shape under our very eyes. The director sat, waited, observed, and contemplated on the proscenium stage. Sayak was seen sitting with Rudrarup, submerged in thoughts for creating the script. They tried to connect dots with a storyline and were seen writing and discussing. The director, at some point appeared with a book on 'Asian dramatic writing philosophy'. The male actors were seen contemplating concepts. Soon Sayak came up with the idea of perceiving Sharat season or Autumn as a character and everyone else as various aspects of Autumn in minor roles. The director smiled. At last, they seemed to have found a process. The script gradually started taking shape on the proscenium stage. They then browsed on stage through pages after pages of Sanskrit, Medieval Hindi and Bangla poets and writers of different periods, to formulate the text. Sayak, an avid painter, started drawing various scenes and masks while Rudrarup started to make the sets.  Again, after a series of trial and error, the director consulted his book to find a piece of important information, or a practice session. He then said, "I am not going to use your existing intellect and sell the same in the market. I want you to devise something new through the process". Subhendu began to make the props with Inderpal assisting him. Masks were designed, rejected, and redesigned. Dipankar was commissioned time and again to understand the form of chiselling the masks. Sayak devised the melody and its physical embodiment. The director came up with new thoughts from time to time. The performers gradually started maneuvering space. The director knew that the drama is on autumn - the season where every imbalance gives way to a new balance. The drama therefore captured this journey. The director was just there as the guide. The rest of the participants helped to formulate the drama. There were many hilarious statements and sarcastic remarks both in dialogue and in dance. Once the old thoughts and practices were removed, fresh flow spontaneously rejuvenated the space. The director directed the flow of the drama. Every action, dialogue, dance and music was realistic. The anecdotes - plenty in number -kept the audience involved with their emotions aroused. It was an action packed dance production. The drama in a way was cathartic.  The concept of presentation of Autumn walked an untrodden path. It had a flavour this reviewer has never tasted before. Sayak Mitra and Rudrarup Mukhopadhyay were the script writers, Dipankar Ghoshal (Palash) was the maker of the sets. Prop design and making was undertaken and carried out by Subhendu Ghosh and Inderpal Singh, while Sadhan Parui and Samar Parui were the light designers. Sayak Mitra was the assistant director of director Piyal Bhattacharya. On-stage Kutapa (orchestra) consisted of Kachchapi Veena player Abhijit Ray, Mattakokila Veena player Subhendu Ghosh, Ekatantri Veena player Sayak Mitra, Surbahar player Souravbrata Chakraborty, flautist Rick Mukherjee, vocalist Seuli Chakraborty, pakhawaj player Mithun Chakraborty, panava and shreekhol player Joy Dalal, Bangla dhol and shreekhol player Pritam Guha. Natas and Natis - male and female dancers - were Pinky Mondal, Shreetama Chowdhury, Amrita Dutta, Amrita Adhikary, Moumita Dhar, Chhandabani Dutta, Smriti Majumder, Srijani, Rajlakshmi, Dipannita Sardar, Sayak Mitra, Akash Mullick, Deep Ghosh, Subhendu Ghosh, Inderpal Singh, Rudrarup Mukhopadhyay and Soumen Palit.  Tapati Chowdhurie trained under Guru Gopinath in Madras and was briefly with International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi. Presently, she is a freelance writer on the performing arts. She is the author of 'Guru Gopinath: The Making of a Legend.' |
