Brechtian play to pay tribute to Salil Chowdhury on IPTA debut in 1942

A unique musical theatre, Ahoban Shono Ahoban — a tribute to Salil Chowdhury to mark the occasion of his first performance of IPTA songs on January 21, 1942 — conceived by renowned musician-composer Debojyoti Mishra, will be staged in the city of joy on January 21.

Ahoban Shono Ahoban is a musical theatre based on Salil Chowdhury’s journey through life and the amazing creative “energy” that ran through his creations. 

The musical characters of the maestro’s works, from “Runner” to “Gayer bodhu” to “Madhumoti” to “Anand” are an integral part of Mishra’s play. The characters are brought alive on stage by some of the leading theatre actors and popular singers of recent times like Rupankar Bagchi, Anwesha Dutta, Neel Mukherji  and Koneenica Banerjee.

The characters of Salil Chowdhury’s poems and his vast area of work from IPTA days will be captured in a stylized, theatrical way. 

In fact, January 21 remains a red letter day in the history of Indian music since it signifies the beginning of revolution through music with the debut of IPTA stage performance by the maestro Salil Chowdhury.

“To me, Salilda meant revolution just as Tagore meant revolution before him. Salilda’s life was full of ups and downs and therefore is perfect for dramatic representation. Hence, a musical theatre on him which has a touch of Brechtian form in it,” Mishra told Millennium Post.

Mishra is not new to this form of theatre though. In 2015, he staged an opera in Houston, USA, titled, The story of songs. 

The opera begins with Chandidas and traces the journey of Bengali music right upto Suman Chattopadhyay. 

The theatre on Mishra’s guru, Salil Chowdhury has more dramatic elements in it though. 

The western play, Amadeus, is based on the life of Mozart and Antonio Salieri. This tribute to legend Chowdhury is likely to be the first of its kind.