Athoi - the bold and the beautiful

Even 400 years after Shakespeare’s death, Othello continues to resonate.Though critics feel that the central character in Othello is the most un-heroic of Shakespeare’s heroes, the drama is praised as the author’s most unified tragedy. Nobody feels as personal as the Moor of Venice among Shakespeare’s great tragedies. Some find the protagonist to be stupid beyond redemption, a few find him passionate to be overwhelmed by powerful emotion,while others find him self-pitying but ultimately he remains a tragic hero in the mayhem. 

Young Arna Mukherjee has done an excellent job in adapting the age-old classical tragedy to a contemporary, modern day drama. With the entire country tottering under the violence of caste and gender discrimination, the adaptation seems perfectly relevant. The narrative of the play is attractive and Arna’s story telling potential casts a spell on the audience. 

The theatre group Natadha is practicing theatre since the last 40 years in Howrah, West Bengal. They have staged Raja Pentheus from The Bacchae, Julius Caesar of Shakespeare, Raktakarabi of Rabindranath Tagore along with Mahabharata, Palashi, Shakuntala written by the veteran theatre activist Shib Mukhopadhyay. In the 41st year, Arna Mukhopadhyay, son of Shib Mukhopadhyay has taken a step further by producing Athoi on stage, bringing the burning issues of hatred, social hierarchy and hegemonic dominance in our society. The director states that, “No one is completely white or completely black. There is a grey zone in every person. There is a grey patch that makes him a real human of flesh and blood.”

Athoi Lodha (Othello), the titular antihero, in this play has grown up with Anagra Chatterjee (Iago) in a remote village, Vinsura. Athoi is a young orphan from the lower caste brought up by Bratanath Chatterjee, father of Anagra. Anagra and Athoi spend a significant part of their childhood together, always being strong competitors. Both of them grow up to become doctors. Athoi has spent his entire childhood in the rural surroundings and feels an integral part of every little thing happening around him, be it good or bad. He dreams of creating an ideal environment in his village for the well-being of the downtrodden, oppressed, discriminated and humiliated people in the society.  This is not surprising given his low caste background and the fact that his grandmother was burnt to death allegedly as a witch by the people belonging to upper caste. Anagra is the smart young man who comes back to his birth place after completing his education abroad. He secretly desired his teacher, Bibhasyan’s (Brabantio) daughter Diyamana (Desdemona). But the situation takes a nasty turn when he finds that Diyamana is betrothed to Athoi and the D-day is not far away. Diyamana is an educated and sophisticated woman with her distinct passion for Bengali poems and literature.  She joins Athoi, her love, against her family’s will to passionately take part in the project of fulfilling his dream of setting up a medical centre in the memory of Anagra’s mother. Jilted in love, Anagra takes vengeance by implanting a seed of suspicion in Athoi’s mind regarding Diyamana’s loyalty. Anagra uses Mili (Emily) as a pawn to win this mind game and the battle in the end.

Anirban Bhattacharya as Anagra accurately portrays his character with the conventional ability of a Renaissance Villain and a classical Renaissance atheist – intelligent, beyond moral scruple who finds orgasmic pleasure in the corruption of the virtuous and the manipulation of the pliable. The smart use of the mask of the joker and his subtle change of expressions from the good to evil impinges audience’s mind with hatred and reminds of the cruelty of the Joker against Batman. 

Arna Mukherjee as Athoi, reveals the insecurity and overreaction in his character with ease. He beautifully crafts his vulnerability and sensitivity to the injustice meted out to the poor and the lower caste in his acting. His reactions to the exploitation of his relatives which he witnessed in his childhood are also worth acknowledging. However, he seems a little less convincing in reflecting the pain, anguish, prejudice, and the maddening jealousy which drives his character to kill his love, Diyamana. This has definitely tilted the scale of acting skills towards Anagra. 

Turna Das as Desdemona has shown the class in her acting and shows prospects of a promising female actor of the young generation. She has depicted Diyamana marvelously as the spirited, honest and an outspoken character in the play. The display of numbness in her character in the end has left the audience awestruck. Arpan Ghoshal as Mukul (Cassio) and Upabela Paul as Mili (Emilia)have been lively and inspiring supporting actors. 

The director and playwright Arnapresents the gruesome picture of violence against dalit girls along with the current incident namely the suicide of Rohit Vemula through Athoi. He has further questioned the ethics of modern day medical practitioners. 

The directorial distinction is evident when Athoi gets the ‘ocular proof’in the end. The successive appearance of the characters who participated in the game plan of vengeance leading Athoi to be convinced about Diyamana’s guilt and finally murder her is an impressive conceptualization which marks the success of the climax. 

The presentation of the play with the well synchronized choreography and background music has helped raise the suspense of the expected culmination of the story. Apart from a few occasions when the presentation fails to keep up the tempo, this Othello has undoubtedly been a noticeable venture in the theatrical space of Bengal.