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The beginning of the modern
Indian theatre can be traced to the building of the Calcutta theatre in
1779. In 1795, a Russian dramatist,
Horasim Lebedev along with a Bengali theatre lover Goloknath Das staged the
Bangla translations of two English comedies, 'Disguise' and
'Love is the best doctor' in Calcutta. In 1831 Prasanna Kumar
Thakur established 'Hindu Rangamanch' at Calcutta and staged
Wilson's English translation of Bhavabhuti's Sanskrit drama 'Uttar
Ramacharitam' laying the foundation for modern theatre in India. Other
important efforts on the scene of Bengali theatre include Nabin Basu's
Jorasanko Natyashala (1854), the private stages of Ashutosh Deb and Ramjay
Basak (1857), Vidyotsahini Mancha (1857), Belgachia Natyashala (1858),
Metropolitan Theatre (1859), Shobhabazar Private Theatrical Society (1865),
Bahubazar Natyashala (1866) and Bagbazar Amateur Theatre (1868).
The city of Calcutta came under the British Influence being the capital of
India (till 1911). By the mid-19th century, the rich, young Bengalis of
Calcutta started to write plays based on British naturalistic models,
interweaving them with Indian music and songs. Rabrindranth Tagore's two
plays, Raktakurabi (Red Oleanders) and Raja (The
King of the Dark Chamber) were part of this early effort. The works of
William Shakespeare were also widely translated and adapted in the Bengali
theatre. By the last quarter of the 19th century, public theatres were
established, managed by Indian artists and designed to appeal to Indian
urban tastes. Thus, modern Indian theatre was formed.
Dwarkanath Tagore, grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, and Jyotirindranath
Tagore were responsible for building and running a private theatre called
the Jorasanko Theatre. In the hands of
playwrights like Madhusudan Dutt and Jyotirindranath Tagore, who adapted
freely from Greek, English and French sources, the Bengali stage assimilated
the western ideas. Belgachia Natyashala, built in 1858, became
the centre of theatrical activity in Calcutta and produced great plays like
Ram Narayan Tarkaratna's Ratnabali and Madhusudhan Dutt's
Sarmistha. In 1872, Girishchandra Ghosh
organised a National Theatre which, along with other similar societies,
staged adaptations from Indian and English classical sources as well as
historical and social plays. The period between 1830-1872 can be rightly
termed as the age of amateur theatricals of Bengal.
The Bengali theatre soon became a strong medium of expression on social,
political and contemporary issues of relevance to the common Indian. Several
plays were produced that criticized the social evils prevalent in the
society. These included Naba Natak and
Kulinakulasarbasa, which opposed polygamy, and
Nildarpan (1875) which criticized white planters for their exploitation
of the local farmers. It was with the performance of the controversial play
Nildarpan by Deenbandhu Mitra that the British government
realised the full potential of theatre and perceived it as a threat to the
British Empire, if left unchecked. This prompted the British government to
promulgate the Dramatic Performances Control Act of 1876, which began the
practice of censorship of the arts. Sisir Kumar Bhaduri(1889-1959), Ahindra
Chowdhury (1895-1974), Naresh Mitra (1888-1968), Durgadas Banerjee
(1893-1943) and Sushila Sundari are some of the respected names of Bengal
Theatre.
With the founding of Indian
People's Theatre Association (IPTA), theatre became even closer to the
people by focussing on contemporary political and social issues of concern
to them. Theatre continued to flourish in Bengal as a result of the
dedicated efforts of Girish Chandra Ghosh, D.L.Roy, Rabindranath Tagore,
Bijon Bhattacharya, Utpal Dutt, Shambhu Mitra, Balraj Sahani, Habib Tanvir
and several others. Utpal Dutt founded the 'Little Theatre Group' through
which he communicated his thoughts and views to the audience. Shambhu Mitra
also added depth and quality to the Bengali theatre by his superb plays like
the Bahuroopi.
In the post-Independence period the Bengali theatre witnessed a marked
change in style with the coming on to scene of great playwrights like Badal
Sarkar, Mohit Chatterjee, Arun Mukherjee and others.
Badal Sarkar produced numerous dramas like Evam Indrajit, Baki
Itihas, Pagla Ghoda, Spartacus, Baasi Khabar, Prastava and
Juloos, which became trend-setters in the contemporary Bengali Theatre. |
