A cine-play reveals letters written by Subhas Chandra Bose and Sarat Chandra Bose from prison cells to the latter’s son, young Amiya
Santanu Ghatak, Asif Ali Beg, and Asmit Pathare enact a scene
Letters unravel what other forms of writing cannot. They are windows into our inner lives, revealing our fears, intimacies and vulnerabilities. Keeping with this sentiment, The Bose Legacy, a cine-theatrical experience by the Playpen Performing Arts Trust, brings to us letters of Subhas Chandra Bose from prisons of Madras and Calcutta, along with those written by his brother Sarat Chandra Bose, addressed to the latter’s son, Amiya Nath Bose. These have been sourced from Amiya’s daughter, Madhuri Bose’s compilation in her book, The Bose Brothers and the Indian Independence, and are dated between 1930 and ’55.
Speaking of how correspondence turned to dialogue, Nikhil Katara, who wrote the cine-play with Himali Kothari, tells us, “Initially, we had put these together as a performed reading, but slowly, it started taking the shape of a play.” While the play was staged at several venues, during the pandemic, the team found it difficult to take it forward. They, therefore, decided to turn it into a cinematic experience rather than a theatrical one. “In 2020, we shot the performance as a cine-play, using all the tools and devices that a film uses. The film was then used as an opening show in Kolkata to commemorate.
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Nikhil Katara and Himali Kothari
Netaji’s 125th birth anniversary”. Since then, the cine-play has travelled to several places, including a recent screening at the Nehru Centre in London. What one hears the characters utter is not fiction at all, Katara reiterates. These are all words of the Bose brothers.
“Some parts of it are not even linked to the national struggle. For instance, [the Bose brothers] would write from the cell asking Amiya which college he’d like to join.” One will find small, personal stories like these. “They were concerned about the young boy growing up in [a changing] India. The historical and the personal are closely-knit in this play,” adds Katara.
This Friday, the cine-play will be screened on the terrace of the G5A Warehouse, followed by a short Q&A session with members of the unit. Katara leaves us with a little note, asking us to look out for the Bose family anthem, Dhana Dhanya, sung by Santanu Ghatak, one of the actors in the film.
ON May 10; 8 pm
AT G5A Warehouse, Laxmi Mills Estate, Mahalaxmi West.
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