New musical to recapture songs of Independence in Bengali theatre

Some of  our most popular songs of Independence- composed during India’s struggle for freedom- that were used in Bengali theatre will be presented at a unique musical to be put up by Academy Theatre for its annual show this month. 

The musical is all about how Bengali theatre, specifically its songs, came to imbibe the spirit of patriotism. 

With the passage of time, these songs won the pride of place in the nation’s clarion call for freedom during the British rule in India, when the entire country grew restive to free itself from imperialist shackles. 

Bengali theatre had naturally accumulated a vast repertoire of mancha-gaan (theatre songs) of patriotic and nationalistic fervour, handed down from generation to generation. The musical which weaves together these patriotic songs has been conceptualised and directed by theatre researcher and singer Devajit Bandyopadhyay.

The festival is an attempt to explore the mancha-gaan which swam against the tide during the struggle for Independence to inspire the masses along with a tribute towards the national heroes of India. “It all began with Dinabandhu Mitra’s Neel Darpan, staged in 1872 and Jyorindanath Tagore’s play Sarojini featuring a song by Tagore and moved onto theatre during the Partition of Bengal (1905). Plays by Amritalal Basu, Girish Ghosh, songs by Mukunda Das, Rabindranath Tagore and D L Roy became extremely popular. 

This was the time when songs like O amar desher mati, Maayer deoa mota kapor, Otho go Bharatlakhhi and Bankim Chandra’s Bande Mataram came to be sung by the masses”, Devajit told Millennium Post. 

The songs will be presented on stage by  Devajit and Riddhi Bandyopadhyay.