BENGALURU : Twenty-three months before Rabindranath Tagore took his last breath, he spoke about the ‘real crisis’ of nationalism the world was facing, in his speech, Crisis of Civilisation. The nobel laureate spoke about the colonisation of the minds of Indian people. Drawing from this speech, Ranjon Shoshal, on Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, wrote a play called, A Journey with Tagore (Crisis of Civilisation), in 2011.
“I wrote the play in such a way that only one actor comes on stage and takes on all roles and also sings the songs too - it was fashioned as a one-man play,” says the writer. Ranjon has given the play a new avatar, and it will be staged later this month. He says, “The danger the world was facing at the time was not hunger or famine, it was colonisation of the mind. How colonisers took control of people’s mind, of those who were under their power,” he says, adding, “In the speech, Tagore says, the crux of the problem lies in patriotism and nationalism. He also talks about how knowing one’s mind and standing up for one’s rights are more important than patriotism.”
The play is a musical, with Tagore’s songs weaved into the storyline. Popular songs by Tagore, such as Amar Sonar Bangla, Ekla Cholo Re and Aaguner Pawrosh-Moni can be heard during the play. Ranjon says, “There are about eleven songs sung in Bengali. However, no one will miss out as translations will be provided on the screen.”
Now, the writer has made changes to the original one-actor play by introducing multiple actors and singers. “I made it a multi-actor, multi-singer, multi-media kind of play. So it should be interesting to watch. There will be three-four people coming in as Tagore or some of the characters that we have created for this play,” adds the director about his biopic-like play.
It will be staged at Rangasthala, MG Road, on July 27, at 7 pm.