Author pays tribute to Kolkata theatre

KOLKATA: The moment the word theatre is uttered, quintessential Kolkata almost naturally thinks of the city’s group theatre movement and the doyens who led it. Perhaps because of the intellectual prowess that group theatre has always had over its less fortunate cousin, commercial theatre. But there was a time when theatre in Kolkata meant the gaudy, glitzy and loud, bordering on the bizarre and crass, the kind that set the stages of Sarkarina, Star, Minerva, Biswaroopa, Rangana or Rangmahal alight.
The gradual decadence of commercial theatre in the city inspired city-bred writer and academic Saikat Majumdar, now based in US, to write his second novel, ‘Firebird’. The book will be released in the city on Friday.
Majumdar, the first Indian faculty member of the English department of Stanford University, is in town for the release. He has slotted the debut in Kolkata simply because the story belongs here. Interestingly, the story of his first novel, ‘Silverfish’, was also based here. A graduate from St Xavier’s College and a post graduate from Jadavpur University, the author did his PhD from Rutgers University before joining Stanford as faculty.
“Being a resident of Bagbazar, I have seen the decadence of North Kolkata and the windows it offered to yesteryear culture, very closely. Commercial theatre is centred around old Kolkata and in the 80s, which is when my novel is set, it was in the last throes of its life. What started with Sonagachhi, ended with Sonagachhi too. The death of the art form that ruled the life of the Bengali middleclass for decades always intrigued me and I wanted to take a microscopic look at it, which I did in my novel,” Majumdar said.
The novel tells the story of a 10-year-old, whose mother is a theatre actor. It shows him grappling with questions — about issues of morality, sexual suspicion and disintegration of the family. It covers a five-year span and the novel sees the boy arriving at his own conclusions.
The group theatre movement was, meanwhile, gathering wind, primarily because it oozed intellectual confidence. The masters treated commercial theatre with disdain and called it cheap and cheesy, something that did not uphold the cultural supremacy of Kolkata.
“The narrative has mention of political violence that leads to the burning down of the theatre where the boy’s mother acted. In the 80s, Kolkata saw an abundance of realtors, who eyed property on which these theatre halls stood,” he said.
The novel, the author says, is a tribute to the power of theatre, which can also be destructive.