Recreating Apu’s world: A divine discourse on knowledge

Happy Ranjit directed, designed and scripted the Apu trilogy, based on Satyajit Ray’s film. The play’s presentation at the Shri Ram Centre was preceded by a film called A tribute to Soumitra Chatterjee, made by Redefining Artistic Innovative designs and Unicorn Actors Studio.

The play was interestingly created with Apu as a little boy, by Visharad Sharma, playing around in his house and the story proceeded with Apu’s mother, played very well by Swaroopa Ghosh and Apu’s sister, Durga played by Medni Kelamane and their relationship with Apu.

Another character introduced in the script is, Apu’s father, Hari, played with a twinkle in his eye by Shaurya Shankar.

In one corner of the stage sits Dadi, played by Durgesh Kumar rather poignantly. She and Apu’s mother don’t get along and Durga and Apu love to sit with her and share her chutneys and the things that she makes in her little corner.

The narrative of the play is slightly different from Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy in the sense that Hari has an important role to play. He is one who quietens Dadi and lets Apu’s mother dream of better days but they finally have to leave the village and Hari goes away to the city to earn a living. Durga dies in the meanwhile of high temperature, and Apu is inconsolable. He and his mother move to the city where Hari appears and all is well for some time.

As Apu grows up to be a young boy he leaves the village and goes to study in Calcutta much to the mother’s annoyance.

We move to Aparajito where Junaid Kaifi takes over as Apu and then to Tikam Joshi who is married to Aparna played by Rachaittri Gupta, the woman he begins to love very much after their marriage. He is inconsolable when she dies during child birth. He refuses to meet his son who is now five years old and living with Aparna’s parents. The play ends with his acceptance of the boy and their going off together.

The play had scattered images of Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy but there was no repetition for instance when Durga speaks to Apu about the train that she has seen, the action shifts to the cinematic image of the two children running across the fields to see the train. Durga is a mixed up character. She steals from her neighbour and is also caught once, having stolen a necklace, but she is however very loving to Apu and very obedient to her mother. Her death is a sad event in the story and well depicted.

Tikam Joshi is present throughout the play as the elder Apu even when he is a child. His reactions to what is happening around the young Apu, is that of a grown up man. Tikam Joshi is a fine actor, and he proves himself as Apu but the actor who played Hari was a wonderful discovery. Shaurya Shankar has a very well built and has a very expressive face. His interactions with Apu’s mother are very loving and make him into a warm human being.

The lights were appropriate to the script and the feel of the film. The costumes were authentic and true to the characters. The scene of them moving into another flat was beautifully done with ropes pulling the luggage.

Ashtavakara written by Brijendralal Shah, staged by Parvatiya KalaKendra at the L.T.G. Theatre. The play is directed by Amit Saxena. The play is about Rishi Ashtavakara who is considered the writer of Ashtavakara Gita. A young boy who is born with crooked limbs and cannot stand up as a man and how he conquers untruths during the treta yug, is the main thrust of the story. Sujata and Rishi Kahod give birth to this boy who owing to malnutrition has got weak limbs.

Thinking for a better future for the family, Rishi Kahod leaves for Raja Janak’s darbar where he wants to take part in question and answers regarding the shastras.

In the darbar, there is a captured scholar whose question and answers are not defeated by anybody and each defeated rishi is sent off to Jumbudweep with the result that there is a scarcity of learned men in the city. Kahod also falls victim to the convict and he is also defeated.

In the meantime, Ashtavakara is growing up with taunts and scarcity of food and so one day he decides to go and look for his father in Raja Janaka’s darbar. There he defeats the convict scholar and slowly the learned men return to the city.

One of them is his father, Kahod. This tale was told to Yudhishtara in the dwapar yug and it happened in the treta yug. It is a story to evoke feelings of inspiration to Yudhishtara in his moments of despair.

When Ashtavakara is faced with a temptation of a beautiful city with everything available, his answer is like this: ‘jis maati ki tedhi medhi yeh kaaya hai, uss maati ko chodh kahan yeh sukh payegi. Jaisi hai vaise hi rehne do, jo karna hai, yahin karegi’ (this land for whatever it is with it’s crooked shapes, this earth if it is disturbed, where will it get happiness. Leave the land as it is; we will do what we have to here).”

In keeping with the tradition, this play also carried a message for those youth who go west in search of happiness and never want to come back to India and it’s life of struggle.

Amit Saxena directed it with a feel for drama with Jitendra Kumar in the lead role of Ashtavakara giving an excellent performance as did Akhilesh Bhatt as the convict scholar.

The choreography and performance of the Ashtavakara Gita by Divya and Deeksha Upreti, with Ritu Nair, Shabnam Srivastava and Babita Pandey, was praise worthy and so were the singers with superb music composed by Bhagwat Chandra Upreti.