Bhubaneswar: It was a sultry Monday evening (April 25), and I was excited to watch the play ‘Sunya Purusha’, based on the life of saint, poet and philosopher Santhakabi Bhima Bhoi, to be staged on the inaugural evening of the five-day long theatre festival at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar.
Celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi under the aegis of Odia Language, Literature and Culture department organised this unique festival. Unique because, all the five plays were based on eminent personalities of Odisha who have long been dead but still live on in the hearts of Odias.
The organisers left no stone unturned to give an aesthetic look to the venue. While the Mandap was nicely lit up, the portico space was judiciously utilised by erecting five blocks informing about the five plays to be staged. They had all information starting from the legendary persons on whom the plays were based on, the names of theatre groups etc. By the time I reached the Mandap, the parking space had already been nearly filled up.
The inaugural play ‘Sunya Purusha’ was based on saint, poet and philosopher Santhakabi Bhima Bhoi.
Being an Odia, and being well acquainted with the subject plot, I would think the play wouldn’t offer much to chew on after leaving the auditorium.
But the director and his team comprising 45 members proved me wrong.
It was so nicely presented that theatre aficionados and common audience remained glued to their seats till the last scene of the play. The director’s research and the artistes’ hard work were visible on the stage.
While the play was written by Shankar Prasad Tripathy, it was directed by Manoj Pattanayak, the founder of ‘Manana’, one of premier theatre organisations of the State.
While Abhishek Panda, Bhabani Shankar Panda and Rajesh Balabantaray did justice to their characters—child, adolescent and young Bhima Bhoi respectively—Sanjay Mahala did his director proud by portraying the roles of Redhakhole and Sonepur kings. Here, the brilliance of the direction was proved once again. How careful Manaj Pattanayak is about the minute details of his play was evident from using Sanjay Mahala for the roles of two kings, one with moustache (King of Redhakhole) and one with it (King of Sonepur).
Dinesh Das and Pradeep Tripathy need special mention for special costume and light design respectively.
Last but not the least, live music by Anuj Pattanayak, Niranjan Bhol, Parshuram Das, Sukanta Kundu and Shakti Prasad Mishra was par excellence.
By kalasanskruti
