Of Death and other Demons
Actor-director Manav Kauls latest play Colour Blind focusses on the humane side of Rabindranath Tagore through his relationship with Argentine poet Victoria Ocampo
It is really absurd to talk about “death” in a play that explores the unique relationship that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and Argentine poet Victoria Ocampo — his muse for the last 17 years of his life — shared. But with “death” having a constant presence in Tagore’s writings,through references direct and indirect,it literally takes the form of a character in Colour Blind,a play directed by playwright-director Manav Kaul (of Kai Po Che!’s Bittoo Mama fame).
“‘Death’ is like an alter-ego or a well-wisher for Tagore,who had experienced it from the time he was very young,” says lyricist-singer Swanand Kirkire,who will enact the role of “death” when the play opens in Kolkata on September 26.
This National School of Drama graduate points out that Tagore wrote Maran Tumi Shyam Saman,a poem that akins “death” to Krishna,when he was just 14 years old. By then,he had lost his mother. Later on,he lost his wife,one of his daughters and younger son in a span of five years. “The loss of near and dear ones left a vacuum in Tagore’s life. And he made sure that void was never filled as that kept pushing his creative boundaries,” says Kaul.
In spite of the grim presence of “death”,the play is an attempt to understand the poet-philosopher. It attempts to do so by stringing together vignettes of his life and work,even though the focus remains on his relationship with Ocampo,played by Kalki Koechlin. “That apart,a number of characters created by Tagore walk in and out of the play,giving glimpses of his mind and personality,” says Kaul. The play has made the cast revisit Tagore’s work. “Though I have read his work in the past,I am discovering him in a new light. He was multi-talented and everything he did was par excellence,” says Kirkire.
Even though the play is 80 minutes long,it took nearly six months of intensive research and revisions before the structure of the multi-lingual play — it uses Hindi,English,Bengali and French — was finalised. “I have written the Hindi portions,while the English bit is co-written by Kalki Koechlin and Dijwattam Bhatacharya. Koechlin also sings a poem from the Gitanjali translated in French,” Kaul says.
The four Bengali actors in the cast have been of
great help in choosing the poems from Tagore’s vast oeuvre and writing the Bengali portions.
The process of putting up this play has been so gruelling that Kaul is not undertaking another theatrical production till next year. For this play,however,a lot of help came from Koechlin. The play became their joint interpretation of Tagore as a man,his conflicts and creativity. Essaying this character seemed intimidating to Satyajit Mishra,a known face on Indian television,initially. “Once I experienced the rush of adrenaline that happens when one works on a new,exciting play,I got over it,” adds Mishra,who is excited about returning to the theatre.
The Mumbai audience has to wait for over two months to watch this play. It will be staged on December 5 during the Centrestage festival,organised by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA).
Alaka Sahani is a prominent film critic and journalist based in Mumbai. With a care... Read More
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