Monday,11,2019

Gautam Roy is a popular Bengali playwright and novelist.

Interviewed by Dr. Paromita Chakravarti.

Your adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew play came out as Madhurena?

It was published as Madhurena, but when it was about to be staged, people said there were other plays by the same name. Then, I named it Srimati Bhoyonkori. Later in my life, I wrote a novel by the same name as well. It was first published in 1991, with a second edition coming out in 2008.

When did Srimati Bhoyonkori come to the stage?

It came to the stage in 1979.

This play was a huge success! It used to run at a stretch, there would be advertisements in paper and on the radio all the time as well. Say something about the play.

Yes, the dialogues became very famous. They played it on the radio advertisements. They perform the play still, using either Madhurena or Srimati Bhoyonkori as the titles. It has been performed in other languages as well. I used to get royalty when it used to be performed initially, but now nobody pays royalty.

I took four of Shakespeare’s characters but made a lot of changes to it. Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew actually re-affirms the patriarchal system: it says that a woman must always listen to her husband. But I have not kept that. I have explained why the girl is the way she is: her father had tortured her mother, so she has become this rude woman who carries around that burden. I did not like this absolute dominion of the husband, so I did away with it. So here the husband tries to reform her by other means; for example, he takes her abroad. In today’s date, one cannot imagine such domination by the husband. In fact I doubt whether this play would have happened at all in today’s date.

Why did you do away with the framing story?

I thought there was no need for it. It had nothing to do with the main story. Further, I had to make it into a play about Bengali people. For example, I had to introduce the character of Milan, who is not a character to be found in Shakespeare’s play at all.

Who played Milan?

Rabi Ghosh did. However, I would say that in the first production, where even I had acted, the actor who played Milan was even better. This production was directed by Bhola Dutta and it happened at Star Theatre in 1978, I think. I played Proloy Shankar in that play.

The contemporary owner of Star Theatre, Ranjit Mal Kakaria, wanted to buy the play in exchange of 10,000 Rupees. He wanted to be known as the playwright. I told him the play has been published as my play already. When he heard that, he lost interest.

Are there any photographs from this production?

No, I don’t think there would be any available anymore.

How did Rabi Ghosh come into the picture?

Rabi Ghosh heard about this production and called me. I narrated the play for him and he said he would do this play next. Ghosh asked me to act in his play as well. My final examination was coming up, so I said I wouldn’t have the time. Then, Utpal Roy did it. Initially, Bashabi played the role but in later productions, Lily Chakraborty played the part.

This production did a thousand shows at a stretch. On the night of the 1000^th show, Rabi Ghosh said he didn’t want to do it anymore. After this, there were no shows at a stretch. There were a couple of months when it was playing at Sujata Sadan. After this, there was a Bangladeshi production of the play as well.

We are trying to understand what are the reasons for Shakespeare’s continued popularity.

Shakespeare’s style of story-telling is very nice. He could tell a tale very nicely.

Taming of the Shrew is not done very often. There was one film I can think of, Kiss Me Kate. But otherwise, I don’t think it was very popular. I read it in translation and got interested, so I read the play. The language was very tough!

When did you first come across the text?

This was around 1975, during the Naxalite period. Someone had recommended the play to me. I read it and felt a funny Bengali play could come out of it. I wasn’t in agreement with much of it, especially with the patriarchal domination of women, but then I tried to capture the rest of it.

Have you thought of doing any other plays?

I thought of Twelfth Night. People are doing other plays, like King Lear and Macbeth. But with this play (Twelfth Night), I wonder how one would show the twin siblings on stage. I had once written a mystery novella called Arek Othello, which had nothing to do with Shakespeare’s play.

In which year did they buy the film rights from you?

In 1992, Nitish Roy came to me to make a film out of Srimati Bhoyonkori. I was working with Nandita Roy, his wife, on the screenplay for a while. But I don’t think he got a producer for it.

After this, we were working on another project called Ei Toh Jibon. That didn’t work out either. But one day, when I was reading out the script out, actor Shankar Chakraborty happened to be present there. He learned the whole story. While the project with Nitish did not work out, one day I saw Haranath Chakraborty had made a film with the same story. It was called Ajker Sontaan. The show business is a terrible line to be in.

After this, Anjan Banerjee said he would like to do Srimati Bhoyonkori. He said he would be completely faithful to my text. I told him that it would not be the best idea to use the play’s language in a film, but he said he would figure it out. He made a complete disaster out of it. I was never invited to be a part of the project, and am deeply embarrassed about the end product. Anjan never met me afterwards. He never invited me to the shooting or to the premier. The first half of the film is from my play, but the second half was a mess: with people shooting people, committing suicides etc. My play was a comedy, but god knows what they turned it into.

There was once a buzz that they would turn it into a mega serial, but that did not work out.

Why do you think this play was so successful?

I had seen similar success with Kone Bibhrat, Natjamai, Nabalok Baba etc. But I think with this play, there was a fresh story. It wasn’t like other plays we had seen.

The protagonist was this fierce woman, something we had not seen before in plays.

Are there any jatras based on this play?

No. There are no jatras based on the play.

What elements of Twelfth Night attracts you?

I am worried about the twin situations. How would I have the two of them on stage at the same time? It is possible in films, but it is not feasible in live performance. I wouldn’t be showing the shipwreck; I’d show land.

One of the ways in which twins are done is by using masks.

This can be done if they are both men. I cannot do that if one of them is a boy and the other is a girl. Let’s see, some idea will surely come.

Had you ever come across Shakespeare in school or college?

No. I went to Art College anyway, so no.

Have you seen the recent productions of Shakespeare plays?

No, I haven’t had the chance. I’ve aged after all. Besides, I keep very busy with my art.