Mohora Cholche (Bengali): Play Review

Play : Mohora Cholche (Bengali) Director : Arindam Ray
Duration : 120 minutes
Cast : Tapash, Sushmita,
Mou Rating : 3 stars
One could argue that it���s impossible to go wrong when you have literary and theatrical masterpieces ��� works of Girish Chandra Ghosh, Amrita Lal Basu, Ardhendu Shekhar Mustaphi and Bijan Bhattacharya, among others ��� at your disposal.But such endeavours call for lots of courage. It would be apt to call ���Mohora Cholche��� a beginner���s guide to the evolution of public theatre in Bengal. This Oihik production, directed by Arindam Ray, weaves together memorable songs and sequences from iconic plays staged in the city to narrate the journey of theatre on stage.
The characters are your regular dada-didi, kaku-kakima and mashima, who gather at the para cultural club to organize plays over adda. In between rehearsing for iconic plays like ���Bilwa Mangal���, ���Marjina Abdullah���, ���Nil Darpan���, ���Khasdakhal���, ���Nabanna���, etc, they share anecdotes about how those literary pieces were conceived and consequently performed on stage. As the primary narrators, Arindam Ray and Tapash Sarkar set the perfect adda ambience with a harmonium and tabla as they sit in their regular pyjama-panjabi. They are surrounded by ���listeners��� who join in the adda ��� singing, enjoying and also performing roles in this play-within-the-play.
In terms of acting, ���Mohora Cholche��� throws up quite a few promising talents in Rajarshi Ghosh and Sandeep Chowdhury, who portray Abu Hussain and Abdulla with effortless ease. But it���s Arindam Ghosh who steals the show for seamlessly switching between characters like an all-too-willing Baba Mustafa (���Alibaba���) to a boisterously entertaining chakor, Manik (���Jaise Ko Taisa���). Sushmita Sen as Mokkhoda (���Khasdakhal���) is endearing as she sways a la yesteryear actor Kanan Bala, while singing, ���Ami jeno chobiti���. Mou Bhattacharya as the elderly mashima, who still has the acting spark alive in her blood, also wins many hearts. Kudos to Oihik for bringing alive some unforgettable moments in theatre. Special effects like waves ��� two volunteers at two ends of the stage holding nine yards of blue cloth with water marks made out of white paint ��� or how makeup was done in the early 19th century, are praiseworthy.
The iconic ���Sainik��� song from Nishikanta Basu Ray���s ���Debaladebi��� has also been sensitively choreographed with vibrant but measured dance moves. Special mention must be made of violinist Shankar Das for hitting the right chord ��� recreating a folk-like ambience for raja-rani tales, high-pitch tunes for mutiny sequences ��� and holding together all the stories in the play. The only glitch that showed up many times was wrong pronunciation of Hindi words, mostly during the majlish sequences. But overall, it���s a mohora worth attending.