To the letter

Three director,Ratan Thiyam from Manipur,Sunil Shanbag from Mumbai and Neelam Man Singh from Chandigarh have been invited by the Tagore Society to stage three plays on the occasion. “The plays will be staged in Manipuri,Hindi and Punjabi,” says Singh,who read quite a few works by Tagore before zeroing in on Streer Patra. The story has a strong resonance even today,she says,that expresses a woman’s needs and expectations in a wife’s letter to her husband after she has left him. The story,adds Singh,surprised her,for it was positive and she could completely relate to it. “It gives primacy to a woman’s point of view,contrasting the conflicting identities of women in the modern and traditional set up within the context of sweeping historical changes,” she says.

Streer Patra tells the story of Mrinal,who gets married at 12 into a household where she is not able to relate to anyone because of her education and intelligence. She spends time in the cattle shed,increasingly with Bindu,the little sister of the elder daughter-in-law of the house. “Bindu is about 13 and Mrinal takes her under her wing,seeing her own lost childhood in her. A strong bond develops between the two women,” says Singh.

Singh has used both her lead actors Rocky and Raman to essay the character of Mrinal. “They are both excellent storytellers and performers. As Karanthji once said,age or gender means very little on stage,” she says,adding that Bindu is played by 40-year-old Gick Grewal. “Mrinal tells her husband that she is not coming back and ends the letter with a lovely quote from Mira. To convey Tagore in Punjabi to a Bengali audience,I have used dramatic language,effective voice and music and of course,powerful acting,” she signs off.