Godhuli Gagane: Capturing a forgotten world

After a string of successful productions such as ‘Tanchak-Prabanchak’, ‘Bishwashghatok’, ‘Play House’ and ‘Barkatgunjer Bakra’, ‘Rashbhehari Shailushik’ is all set to launch its latest play, ‘Godhuli Gagane’, (‘Ballad of the Twilight’), which is to be staged on August 6, 2023, at Gyan Manch from 6:30 pm.

Adapted from Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ by playwright Padmanabha Dasgupta, ‘Godhuli Gagane’ is also the first directorial venture of Padmanabha. Arjun Dasgupta, a prolific writer for both Bengali theatre and cinema, has been adding considerably to his significant body of work through both original plays and translations. ‘Godhuli Gagane’ is his latest in this line.

‘Godhuli Gagane’ strives to capture a forgotten world, an elapsed time when ordinary citizens once lived and loved our great city. It encapsulates a humble neighbourhood where men and women go about their mundane existence while the everlasting cycle of life embraces their loves and losses. Those neighbourhoods and alleyways, the low walls and high ceilings, disappeared somewhere down the labyrinths of cyberspace as dish TV and cellular networks replaced the simple joys of transistor radios and black-and-white television. The play attempts to portray the agony and ecstasy of that lost generation.

The simple two-storey houses of the 1960s and 1970s have slowly been replaced by fancy high-rises. The chirping of sparrows and the staccato hammering of coal being broken down for clay ovens have been traded for the relentless ringing of millions of mobiles. Yet, despite all this, a huge yellow moon still continues to climb the night sky slowly but surely. As it looks down upon the artificial white lights and neon lamps, maybe it smiles a quiet smile. For the moon has seen it all - the past and the present - and will carry on watching this ever-changing circle called life, eternally.

The cast includes Padmanabha Dasgupta, Arjun Dasgupta, Gautam Purkayastha, Shromona Ghosh, Nabanita Dutta and others.