The world knew no greater density of artistic genius than when Sheydiner Doojon – Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam – inhabited the same planet, the same land, the same city in early twentieth century Bengal.
They rose from polar extremes of Bengali society –one a scion of landed aristrocracy, the other from a nomadic, fatherless family. Yet the sum total of their creative energy moved heaven and earth. Rabindranath and Nazrul; representing literally the High Heaven and the Down to Earth; the panoramic vista of boundless space beside the unbounded sorrow of human anonymity; the little next to the great; a place amidst the gods versus a humbler place among fellow men.
Both shared the same cataclysmic history – the division of Bengal, the struggle for independence, the tragedy of the world wars; pride in the nation’s heritage blunted by shame of the nation’s poverty. These inspirations drove both men to immortal works of poetry, drama and music; works which together encompass a much greater whole than the sum of each part; works which not only mirror diversity of class, religion and community but also the diverse response of genius to adversity.
Sheydiner Doojon uses the works of Tagore and Nazrul to understand their vision of the world, the sun, moon and planets; their portrayal of happiness and grief; their image of color and light, night and darkness; stillness and motion.
Using a rich audio-visual platform choreographed with colourful dance the evening brings together the poetry of Rabindranath and Nazrul, Rabindrasangeet and Nazrulgeeti, their contrasting folk and classical styles and the experimentation of both men with regional music and western mores.
Sheydiner Doojon seeks to interpret, synthesise and communicate these different messages with the help of narration and a dialogue between several onstage characters. We hope that through this medium of educational entertainment Sheydiner Doojon will focus uniquely not on the differences but on the complementarity of genius shared by the two great Bards of Bengal.
Bengal was the stage they strode and for the very first time we juxtapose the twin streams of Bengal’s rich vein of gold; on how we love and live, how we laugh and cry, how we pray and dream. Hear more through the eyes of Sharada and Swapan, mother and son who tell us about the hopes, aspirations and frustrations of a Bengali family in 1940s Kolkata.
PARTICIPANTS
Concept, Script, Play and Direction Bhaskar Dasgupta
Music Direction Bhaskar and Dalia Dasgupta
Special Music Advisor Pratyusha Chaudhuri
Actors
Jen Ball, Deep Dasgupta, Srabantika Dasgupta
Dancers
Ananya Chatterjee, Showmi Das, Ashwini Kalsekar, Mukti Mukku, Krishna Priya, Soumya Rao, Deepa Sadagopan
Vocalists
Pratyusha Chaudhuri, Dalia Dasgupta, Shruti/Pooja Dasgupta, Mamata Lahiri, Ballari Sengupta, Imtiaz Ahmed, Bhaskar Dasgupta, Shahadaat Hossain
Esraaj Tirthankar Roy
Flute Clive Bell
Sitar Mehboob Nadeem
Piano Accordion Victor Massey
Harmonium Dalia Dasgupta
Mandira Shahaddat Hossain
Project Management Team Sunith Lahiri, Arun Majumdar, Mekhola Ray
Event Coordination Sunith Lahiri, Dalia Dasgupta
LightSubroto Ghosh
Sound Ayan Sengupta
Powerpoint Presentation Bhaskar Dasgupta
Programme flyer design Deep Dasgupta