7 shades of celebrating women on stage

KOLKATA: Damini of ‘Chaturanga’ Ela of ‘Char Adhyay’, Chitrangada of ‘Chitrangada’, Malati of ‘Sadharan Meye’, Chandara of ‘Shasti’, Kadambini of ‘Jibito O Mrito’ and Nandini of ‘Raktakarabi’ — all seven characters of Tagore will come together on January 16 as part of a unique production titled ‘Saptaparnee’. That’s the highpoint of the three-day-long celebration of 41 years of Rangakarmee, which will also see productions of ‘Badnam Manto’ and a performance of ‘Antaryatra’ by Usha Ganguli.
This is the first time that the Kolkata stage will see a production helmed by seven female directors and enacted by seven women.The scripts have been created by Bangladesh’s Sadhana Ahmed. “Since the inception of Rangakarmee, our sole concern has been to comment on the gender discrimination and create awareness to provide a solid foundation to nurture the inner strength of women. This festival celebrates the still unspoken truth of women by the women and for the women on a cause. While upholding this cause, it is Tagore’s female characters we sought inspiration from,” Ganguli said.
The first call Ganguli made was to director Sohag Sen to join this production. She will direct Sejuti Roy Mukherjee as Damini. While Sima Mukherjee will direct Karuna Thakur as Chandara, Suranjana Dasgupta will direct Mrinmoyee Biswas as Kadambini. Veteran actress Maya Ghosh will be directed by Adrija Dasgupta as she steps into the role of Malati and while Anubha Fatehpuria will be guided by Tulika Das when she plays Chitrangada. Nandini will come alive when Kathakali Dasgupta steps into this character under Abanti Chakraborty’s directions. Sanchayita Bhattacharya will play Ela under Ishita Mukhopadhyay.
Ganguli says she feels that today’s women are stronger than Tagore’s characters. “Look at how Mukhtaran Mai and Malala have fought. Education has given strength to women. Today’s girls have a higher confidence level,” she said.
However, she admits that the theatre world is still largely male-dominated. “So many games are played against a powerful woman. Eliminations are common because men naturally want to dominate and are uncomfortable with women in positions of power. At every step in my career, I’ve been made to understand this,” she said.
Ganguli, at 71, however doesn’t let all these bother her. “Our plays, including ‘Lokkatha’, ‘Holi’, ‘Rudali’ and ‘Himmat Mai’ have strong socio-political content. Despite all the subtle negative propaganda in a male-dominated theatre world, our group gets 20 calls a day. We continue to train newcomers without charging anything. Our aim is to cultivate self-esteem in women to enable them to stand against all odds,” she said.