Stormy tale for stage

PLAYWRIGHT OF the month. If this choice were left to the Stella Marians, Mahasweta Devi would be uncrowned queen of theatre. Considering, she has been the young dramatists' choice twice over now, Mahasweta Devi seems indeed to have hit bull's eye in Chennai.

When the Stella Marians chose a M. Devi play Bayen in October last at Natak, it was but a prelude to the grander dramatic event, the annual college play. Stella did go home, hands full (to be precise, Best Play, Best Actor, BestDirector, Best Light and Best Sound) after the performance at the inter- collegiate theatre event. So perhaps, Mahasweta Devi was/is lucky for them. Or simply, she says the things they want to say.

Luck or no luck, Hajar Churashir Ma, is the Stella Marians choice for their annual event coming up on February 14 and 15. Mother of 1084, in case you haven't figured that out yet. Adapted and translated from the original Bengali, Hajar Churashir Ma is about a mother's search for her son, set against the Naxalite movement of Bengal in the 1970s.

Remember Jaya Bachchan giving that brilliant performance as Sujata Chatterjee in Govind Nihalani's Hazaar Chaurasir Ki Maa? Welcome to the stage version of that. The sequence of events are set in a time of violence and bloodshed, the Barasat and Baranagar killings of 1970-71 when more than a hundred young men were dragged out of their homes and murdered for their involvement in the Naxalite movement.

Thankfully, this incident is only a starting point, and not the focus of the play. No staining the stage with tomato sauce.

But, on a deeper level, Hajar... is about the impact that the killings leave on the families of the young men. Challenging job coming up for Sheetal who plays Sujata Chatterjee (incidentally, Sheetal won the best actress award at Natak). Through the course of the play, she rides a multitude of emotions - pain, anguish, guilt, anger and shock and is forced to confront certain truths about her family, leaving her a lonely, isolated woman. The bitter fight outside is only mirrored subtly by the emotions battling inside `Ma'.

The play is being directed by Ms.Sushma Ahuja, a professional actress, singer and classical dancer, while the student director is Anupama Srinivasan. Ms.Ahuja has scripted, directed and written the dialogues and screenplay for several television serials and has worked with some of the titans of the Indian theatre movement.

With Hajar... she will be handling a crew of more than 15 students and a double cast too. Taking up the offer to help the Stella Marians is only in keeping with her belief that ``talent among the youngsters must be encouraged.''

She was also impressed that the students would zero in on a `mature, serious, intense and difficult play to perform' as they have. ``It came as a pleasant surprise'', she says of their choice. Especially, ``at times like this when teenagers are often accused of being indifferent to the darker side of life''.

But then, Chennai is not so very surprised, because Chennai knows its Stella Marians.

By Ramya Kannan

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Section  : Southern States
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