‘Mahajoner Nao’ , a highly praised theatre production of Subachan Natya Sangsad will be stage at Tower Hamlets in London at the Session of Bangla Drama Festival.
The troupe is scheduled to stage two special shows of the play at the festival at Brady Art Centre of London on November 1 and 2.
A 13-member delegation comprising Amirul Islam Babu, Ahmed Gias, Fazlul Haque Russell and Imran Hossain, among others, will leave Dhaka for London on October 30.
The play, which is the 33rd production of Subachan, gives a glimpse of mystic bard Shah Abdul Karim’s flamboyant life, works and struggles.
Written by Shakur Majid and directed by Sudip Chakroborthy, ‘Mahajoner Nao’ is a musical play that sketches a biographical outline of Baul Abdul Karim on stage.
The play is dominated by more than 20 oft-heard and less-heard songs of the poet. Karim’s life has been articulated with these songs.
The bard in the play philosophically sees ‘Nao’ (boat) as a symbolic gesture of human body while ‘Mahajon’ (owner) symbolises the Creator. As a boat, Karim has nothing to do except for reaching a dreamland called ‘Sonargaon’.
The bard, in his lifetime, always tried to discover thyself and mysticism of the Creator. This has been portrayed in the play as well, through majestic melodies of Karim. Karim’s stand against bigotry and social discrimination has also been depicted in the play.
The cast of the play includes Ahmed Gias, Ansar Ali, Asadul Islam, Sonia Hasan, Saiful Imam, Monirul Hossain, Amirul Islam, Tanveer Dipu, Aminul Islam, Hossain Imran, Roni Alam, Lithu Rani, Sohel Khan, Imtiaz Shaon and Fazlul Hauque, among others.
Apart from directing, Sudip Chakroborthy will design the set, stage lights and costumes for the play.
Shah Abdul Karim, a pioneering figure in Bangla folk music, was born in a peasant family in Sunamganj 1916. He was barely literate. He got his musical lessons from Ustad Karam Uddin and Rashid Uddin.
Karim authored about 1500 songs and six books. Bangla Academy translated 10 songs of the bard into English.
He wrote and rendered songs for all the important political and cultural movements of Bangladesh like the Kagmari congregation, the 1954 election, the 1969 mass uprising, the 1970 election, and the movement against the military junta in 1990’s.
Some of his popular numbers are, ‘Jhil mil jhil mil korey’, ‘Bonde maya lagaichhe, ‘Asi boley gelo bondhu’, ‘Kyano piritee barailarey bondhu’, ‘Gari cholena cholena’, ‘Aami koolhara kolonkini’, ‘Agey ki sundor din kataitam’, ‘Ami tomar koler gari’, ‘Aila na aila na’, ‘Bosonto batasey’ and ‘Krishno aila randhar kunje’.
Karim was honoured with the highest national award of Bangladesh, the ‘Ekushey Padak’, in 2001.
Source: Weekly Holiday