�Chitrangada� to be staged at BSA today
DL desk
Today, on the occasion of Shaheed Dibas and International Mother Language Day, popular theatre troupe Swapnadal will stage its much-acclaimed play Chitrangada with the slogan Sudhha Rupe Bangla Bhasa Bolte Chai Shunte Chai. The play will be staged at 7pm at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA), Segun Bagicha in the city. Chitrangada is the 11th production of Swapnadal, written by Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore and directed by Zahid Repon.
The script of the play is an adaptation of a tale in the great eastern epic `Mahabharata, but with new and modern interpretations. The story of Chitrangada is centred around the mythological hero Arjuna and the princess of Manipur, Chitrangada, who was brought up as a son by her father and trained up as a warrior. But being acquainted with Arjuna, Chitrangada falls in love with him. Watching her so-called external glamourless appearance, Arjuna refuses her love. Humiliated and brokenhearted, Chitrangada appeals to the God of Love Madana and God of Youth Bashanta for beautifying herself for only one day! But impressed with her prayer, they bless her with a new formation, granting her with a beautiful appearance for a year. After that, Chitrangada appears before Arjuna in full glamour of new-found dazzling beauty and Arjuna simply falls in love. But after achieving Arjunas admiration and love, Chitrangada enters into a new inner-conflict that which is important to a man or woman- the temporary external glamour or the truth of the soul? And after many incidents, at last both of them realize that the second one is the greatest sublime and also the most permanent for mankind.
Rabindranath wrote the play in two different forms or versions. In 1892, when he was only 31 years old, he wrote Chitrangada in Poetic Drama (Kabyanatya) form. But 44 years later, in 1936, he wrote it in Dance Drama (Nrityanatya) form based on the same story.
Where: BSA, Segun Bagicha
When: 7 pm, today
