Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay, Nandikar, and the World: Staging World Literature in Bengali

Abstract

Through an analysis of the Begali playwright, director and actor, Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay's adaptaton of Anton Chekhov's The Dangers of Tobacco as Tamakhu Sheboner Opokarita, this essay analyzes a translation practice in Bengali theater known as rupantor. Unlike anubaad (Bengali for translation), rupantor implies a departure from the original. The basis for these departures is explained through Walter Benjaminâ’s idea of “translatability”. Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay introduced his own realist acting style to Bengali audiences who were accustomed to seeing heightened melodramas. By veering away from long melodramas which favored a single actor, rupantor enabled a more democratic environment where new communities of performances and spectators were formed. These communities include both the makers, who, collectively, started the group theatre movement from the 1950s, and the audiences. They could be located around new theater houses such as Muktangan Rangalaya, and as reading publics who read a variety of new theater journals such as Theatre edited by Samik Bandyopadhyay and Pabitra Sarkar. In the larger discussion on world literature, this paper argues that the world always manifests in a local space. Decolonization in Indian theater has so far been described through the “theater of roots” movement. Here, I argue that “rupantor” of major dramas of the world inaugurated a new way of decolonizing the Bengali stage.

Keywords:

• World literature
• Anton Chekhov
• postcolonial theater and performance
• theater translation
• Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Madhurima Chakraborty; the two anonymous peer-reviewers; and Dr. Bishnupriya Dutt for their comments on this essay; and the librarians at Natyashodh Sangsthan for all their help.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Sandip Bandyopadhyay quotes Ajitesh from an interview he gave to the weekly Amrita. All translations from Bengali in this essay are mine.

2 I have used first names instead of surnames in several places to avoid confusion. Several people discussed in this essay share the same surname.

3 Calcutta is now known as Kolkata. I use Calcutta in this essay because the city was known by that name in the decades under discussion here.

4 For more on Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay’s work in the jatra see Prabhatkumar Das’ book Jatra Pothe Ajitesh.

5 Staging the 1857 Mutiny as “The Great Rebellion” in Utpal Dutt's Mahavidroha”.

6 Khemta is described as “a light dance accompanied by loud gestures and swinging steps” in The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre. The term appears for an entry on the jatra – the folk theatrical form in Bengal. Ajitesh, however, used the form in Brecht adaptations for the proscenium spaces.

7 These plays were performed sometime between 1956 and 1961 when Ajitesh worked in IPTA. Unfortunately exact details of when these were performed are not available.

8 Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay, Pakhi, first published in Bohurupee, no. 58; performed for the first time on 6th March 1987 at the Academy of Fine Arts by the theatre group Chenamukh, directed by Ramaprasad Banik. Chenamukh was formed on 1981 when several members left Bohurupee to form a group. Initially, Tripti Mitra began performing with Chenamukh but left after the first year. Ramaprasad Banik then directed most of the plays for Chenamukh in the 1980s.

9 I have not been able to trace these records or CDs. The information here is sourced from Angshuman Bhowmick’s essay, “Torjomar Tobiyot.”

10 The Bengali sources mention the original play to be Zimmermann’s A Dream but I have not been able to trace which play or playwright this refers to.

11 This booklet is mentioned in Angshuman Bhowmick’s essay, “Torjomar Tobiyot”, 320.

12 Shouvanik was formed on 1st May 1957 by Biresh Mukhopadhyay, Nibedita Das and others. It emerged out of IPTA’s South Squad. Ebong Indrajit premiered in Muktangan in 1965.

13 In all probability this refers to the formation of the National School of Drama and discussions on regional centers for such schools across India. For a detailed study on state policy and theatre in India see Anita Elizabeth Cherian’s unpublished dissertation, “Fashioning a National Theatre: Institutions and Cultural Policy in Post-Independence India.”

14 For a more focused reading between politics and aesthetics in Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay’s work see Rajdeep Konar’s essay, “In the Neighborhood of Liminality.”

15 Shiboboroto Chattopadhyay lists the number of performances directed by Ajitesh. In the following list the name of the production is followed by the name of the play it was adapted from; the number represents the number of performances: Natyakarer Sondhane Chotti Choritro (Six Characters in Search of an Author) (1961): 349; Manjari Amer Manjari (The Cherry Orchard) (1964): 157; Sher Afghan (Henry IV) (1966): 291; Teen Poishar Pala (Three Penny Opera) (1969): 469; Bhalomanush (The Good Woman of Szetzuan) (1974): 357; Antigone (Jean Anouilh, Sophocles’ Antigone) (1975): 286.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Souradeep Roy

Souradeep Roy has an MPhil from Delhi University where he wrote a dissertation on Adil Jussawalla, and an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University where he wrote a dissertation on the actress Keya Chakraborty. He has received the Postgraduate Research Studentship to begin his PhD at Queen Mary, University of London.