Nihsanga Samrat

Central to this production is an endeavour to present glimpses of the essential “man” that Sisir Kumar Bhaduri was, despite the mask(s) and the aura of being an undisputed legend of Bengali theatre even in his life-time. And in trying to relocate this stalwart in the light of contemporaneous times, Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novel has been an obvious choice. The relevance of this production stems from a plethora ofconcerns. Sisir Kumar Bhaduri had eschewed the career of being a Professor to dedicate himself wholly to professional theatre, a choice that was certainly not easy for him. He was a bold purist for whom folk culture was always to be prized and prioritized in spite of the lures of western assimilations at a time when “Theatre of Roots” was hardly a seedling in the cultural domain. He refused to be institutionalized, disregarded national honours including Padma Bhushan and yet would remain devoted to his vision of actualizing a National Theatre with an uncompromising zest. Such collages of contradictions, convictions and ideologies inform Sisir Kumar Bhaduri, both his life and his works and provide this production with its impetus. Needless to add that this is not just a “production” of Indraranga, but is designed to speak volumes about us – the theatre workers. And if you can hear our voices speak, we would regard our job done and done well too.