‘The SAS Trio’ along with Garfa Mitrayan stage Tagore’s dance drama ‘Kaalmrigaya’

The production was presented by Garfa Mitrayan, with financial support from the Union Ministry of Culture, Gaudiya Nritya Bharati and Bikramshila.

Professor Mahua Mukherjee, former Rabindranath Chair Professor, ICCR, Dhaka University, Padmashri Niranjan Goswani, Director Indian Mime Theatre, Dr. Haimanti Chattopadhyay, Member Secretary, West Bengal State Academy of Dance Drama Music and Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kohinoor Sen Barat, eminent dancer and choreographer and Kalavati Devi, Manipuri dance guru attended the show.

Banani Chakraborty, Subhodip Chakraborty’s mother and member of Garfa Mitrayan said, “This production took almost two years to get made. The three of them worked very hard in these two years to get it here on stage.”

‘Kaalmrigaya’ written by Rabindranath Tagore, reflects the influence of western and eastern cultures had on the poet. He wrote it right after he came back from London in 1878.

The story revolves around a blind ascetic’s son, who goes to the river Sarayu to get water for his father and  gets shot with an arrow by King Dasarath who thought he was a deer.

‘Kaalmrigaya’ was first staged  on December 3, 1882, at Debendranath Tagore’s house.

The play staged by the trio was conceived and directed by music composer, arranger and dancer Subhodip Chakroborty, assisted by Satabdi Acharya in dance direction, and Ayon Mukhopadhyay in music direction.

The director has tried to blend in both western and eastern music in this particular dance drama.

(Reporting by Tirna Chatterjee)