‘Modern’ Chitrangada busts the beauty myth

Tagore’s Chitrangada, which was written in 1981, is considered one of the greatest works by the Bengali icon.
Since this play has had multiple adaptations, the directors wanted to bring in contemporary elements to make it different from the rest.
Since this play has had multiple adaptations, the directors wanted to bring in contemporary elements to make it different from the rest.

BENGALURU:Tagore’s Chitrangada, which was written in 1981, is considered one of the greatest works by the Bengali icon. The story is taken from the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata. This story dates back to more than a 1,000 years, and it finds relevance even today.Prataya Saha, who has translated and transcribed Chitranganda in English, has now directed a modern version of Tagore's work, called Chitraa, and emphasises on the relevance of it in even today. He says, “We still talk about fair skin, dark skin and body shaming.”

The play is about a woman (a princess), who is brought up as a man. She eventually falls in love with a man and feels that the man would not love her the way she is. She approaches the God of love and becomes a more ‘feminine’ woman in order to be more acceptable by the man and society. On asking Prataya how far the complexities of gender have been explored in the play, the director says, “Gender has been explored in the film Chitrangada by Rituporna Ghosh. But because this is a play and not a film, we have limited scope. We have not explored gender per say, but there is a part in the play that we have introduced like an operation theatre. When the transformation happens, we have tried to show it as an operation theatre. That has been incorporated in the play in the form of a dance sequence. We wanted to do an allegory in beauty enhancing jobs, where people go under the knife."

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The play explores beauty standards set by society and the way in which it is externally perceived. With hard hitting dialogues like, 'dark unattractive but pure, dark but real', it seeks to explore societal standards of beauty and the harsh reality of women who are burdened with skin-deep expectations.Anshulika Kapoor, who plays the character of the princess, says, “Srirupa (the character) is very close to me. I think every woman would connect with her.”“Which sane woman would in her right mind deck her body just to get the attention of the man? In the end, the body gets caressed by the man, not her self,”Prataya adds.
Since this play has had multiple adaptations, the directors wanted to bring in contemporary elements to make it different from the rest.

“It is a very intense, romantic drama. These days, the audience has a shorter attention span, so in order to make it gripping, I have introduced character comedies into it – the way they interact and the mannerisms – I have introduced and a lot of characters and situational characters in it. Even the dialogues are delivered in a way that the audience can relate to. The first 40-minutes of the play is breezy, to help connect with the audience. I am extremely happy that we got fantastic reviews. ."

Anshulika, who is also the producer of the play, says, “Earlier, we wanted to do it in Bengali and then hindi, then we finally did it in English so the audience in Bengaluru could connect with it. This is my first production as a producer, I always wanted to bring something unique."The play was presented to two houseful shows at Alliance Francaise on March 10 and received positive reviews from prominent theatre personalities, authors and artists.

Watch Chitraa at Lahe Lahe on March 30.

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