Bhubaneswar: ‘Tata Niranjana’ was staged to a packed audience by Abhinaya Jagruti Institute of Theatre (AJIT), one of the premier theatre organisation in the state founded by veteran Odia film actor late Ajit Das, on the inaugural evening of its three-day-long 13th Ajit Natya Mahotsav at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
The stage lights up to show the ashram of Lord Buddha where his followers are in a prayer class. As the story progresses, it revolves around a female follower Ichhamati, a male follower Nilalohita and Lord Buddha. Nilalohita is Ichhamati’s former lover. Ichhamati pleads with her lover to put her desire to an end. She offers her body to him, leaving him perplexed.As it goes against the principles of the ‘sangha’, Ichhamati is asked to leave the ashram.
Ichhamati leaves the ashram, leaving some questions behind that percolate Lord Buddha’s mind. He wanted to change his versions about Nirvana. Sensing trouble for the ‘sangha’, monk Ananda asks him to observe silence, restricting him from telling his views.
As he explores to get answers of those questions, he comes across Sujata who had earlier broken his fast. She asks him the reason for meeting her for the second time.While pursuing his quest, he reaches Kapilavastu. But here too he encounters with the same questions from Gopa. Then he realises that he has reached a point of no return. He realises his shadow has outgrown his body.
The play comes to an end with Lord Buddha eating pork meat at the house of blacksmith Cunda, suffering from fatal dysentery, leaving the questions of Ichhamati, Sujata and Gopa unanswered.
All the actors did their best performances, Umakanta Sahoo, Kalpana Rout, Bijay Kumar Padhi, Niranjan Acharya and Bibhu Prasad need special mention for their portrayal of Lord Buddha, Ichhamati, Nilalohita, Ananda and Sariputa characters respectively.
Theatre lovers were seen remained glued to their seats till the last scene.Nalini Nihar Nayak’s light design played a significant role in the success of the play. Kailash Senapati’s music and Pragyan Dutta Sahoo’s set design also contributed to the success of the play.
However, a departure from the tradition left many theatre lovers disheartened. At the end of any play, there’s self-introduction session, giving the audience a chance to know which actor played which character. Here at the festival, there was photo session instead of self-introduction session. As the play came to an end, the spectators were waiting to watch artistes’ self-introduction. But, the artistes posed for group photos. By the time the artistes were asked to give their introduction, most spectators had already left the auditorium.
The play was originally written by Dr Bijay Mishra and directed by Ajit Das. In fact, it was Ajit Das’s last directed play staged at Bhanjakala Mandap on January 20, 2020. For the festival, actor Aman directed it.
The festival witnessed a rare combination. Rare in the sense, the inaugural evening, i.e January 20, is Ajit Das’s birthday. Had he been alive, he would have celebrated his 75th birthday. Similarly, he would have completed his 50 years of acting career. And, his brainchild, Abhinaya Jagruti Institute of Theatre, better known as AJIT, has completed 25 years.
The festival was inaugurated by former principal chief commissioner of Income Tax of Odisha Manoranjan Panigrahi, who also served as the secretary of Culture, Information and Public Relations Department of Odisha and Bina Sharma, director of NSD, Bangalore. Dr Maya Das, wife of Ajit Das, also shared the dais.
On this occasion, eminent actor Choudhary Bikash Das and Kishore Khandual were felicitated with Ajit Natya Samman and journalist Manoranjan Mohanty with Ajit Sambadika Samman.
