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adda
adda in Bengal and Bangali life has been like a cultural backbone for all of us. adda is all about passionate discourses and debates with friends over chaa – be it poetic, artistic, sports or political. We have all grown-up with adda, we have all evolved with adda.
, we continue to hold such addas in effort to keeping that passionate spirit connecting us together in sharing community hope, trust, mutual support along with a constant state of internal zest for life.
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... with Senjuti Mukherjee
it revolved around our theatre-friend, Senjuti Mukherjee. Carrying forward the burning legacy of her father, Ashit Mukhopadhyay, Senjuti shared her creative life on-stage & on-screen with us. She has played the lead female role in plays like Bisharjan (Gandhar), Jodubonsho (Swapnasandhani), Saptaparni (Raangakarmee), Oedipus (Drishyapat), Medea (Rangapat) and so on. Some of her screen roles are in ‘Iti Mrinalini’ (Aparna Sen), ‘Phoring’ (Indranil Roychowdhury), ‘Chotushkone’ (Srijit Mukherjee), ‘Kadambari’ (Suman Ghosh), ‘Natoker Moto’ (Debesh Chattopadhyay) and it continues. She received the Best Actress Award by the Indian Critics’ Association, Zee Bangla, and also by the Pashchimbanga Natya Academi in 2021.
I have known Senjuti for the last 30years and had the pleasure of watching her perform over the decades. Have always admired her capacity to balance performance, academics (she is a professor of a college) and a full-fledged family life with in-laws and a growing son. Most importantly found her warmth so welcoming in the world of performing arts where competition and professional rivalry runs so deep. It was wonderful to work together in Drishyapat’s Oedipus where I thoroughly enjoyed offering movement-training for the performing team along with being the Choreographer of the production. It has been such a long time since Senjuti and myself have expressed our mutual desire to work closely together with the body and the word – wonder when it will happen…
... with Chaiti Chaudhuri
Chaiti Chaudhuri, our very dear ‘Chaitidi’ to all, has been an inspiration to me since I saw her for the first time performing on stage in a theatre production by Theatron under the direction of all-of-our-very-revered ‘Salilda’ (Salil Bondyopadhyay). What dynamism on stage, and yet in such a brief character appearance – she left behind her energy on stage for us to take back with us, and which still continues to simmer inside. What a bountiful gift for a life-time!
That evening was very special to me, and to many present there, as Chaitidi took us through a very delicate, painful yet passionate alley of performing life – the ‘politics of performing groups’ and how it rips us apart emotionally in our internal landscape, fills us with disillusion about our maestros, our leaders and the performing world, as well as professionally ruins us in our external career pathway. As a senior artist, now in her 70s, she held our hand firmly yet gently with unsaid care to share such buried lost narratives of loves and labour of our performing bodies.
... with Suranjana Dasgupta
Suranjana Dasgupta had mesmerized us all with her unforgettable performance in Madhav Malanchi Koinya (in the ‘80s), directed by the renowned theatre personality Sri Bibhash Chakraborty. At that time I was a rather ‘young dancer’ (in my teens!) of Dancers’ Guild under Dr. Manjusri Chaki-Sircar; and I remember we were all asked to observe carefully and learn from Suranjana’s capacity to act, sing, dance all together and all in equal capacity, and take up the stage in a full storm! Ever since have remained a quiet learner of her on-stage presence…
Suranjana has also worked with Utpal Dutta, Ramaprasad Banik, Usah Ganguly, Arun Mukhopadhyay, Soumitra Chattopadhyay, to name only some stalwarts of the discipline. She has been rewarded twice by the Pashchimbanga Natya Akademi in 1988 & 2005. From 1991-93 she performed regularly in Biswarupa with Aparna Sen, as well as worked on-screen with her under her direction in 15 Park Avenue and Goyenar Baksho. She continues to teach theatre in the National School of Drama and direct her own plays like, Parulbone Robi, Tin Guchchir Binuni, Mrs. Udgarica and so on.
... with Daminee Benny Basu
It is often said that time moves in a circulatory manner, and with Benny it feels that way now. Once upon a time, I had the pride of being Benny’s “hero Basak”, and now I must say it is my turn to call dear Benny “my hero”!
Benny is an acclaimed performance-artist, singer-actor, and coach for actors, who has been almost brought up on stage (by parents who are both most veteran, dynamic stage/theatre personalities over decades of this city – Asit Basu and Bhadra Basu). Benny has worked with theatre directors like, Soumitra Chattopadhyay, Bibhash Chakraborty, Usha Ganguly, Arun Mukhopadhyay, Anjan Dutt to name only a few. She has acted on screen and worked with Rituparno Ghosh, Vishal Bhardwaj, Kaushik Ganguly, Shoojit Sircar and many more.
Through the ‘ClassAct Commune’ Benny engages artists in deep thinking in breaking set patterns of their comfort zones and explore/extend creative boundaries. Lately she’s invested into learning and understanding Jungian Psychology and Esoteric Psychology, and finding ways in which it can be applied to enhance performance
In that evening’s adda Benny took us through unknown dark allies hidden in our homes, in our childhood…
