Revisiting Sayan Biswas, Indranil Dey’s “Chaichi Tomar Bondhutta”, writes Shanku Sharma

Drama – Chaichi Tomar Bondhutta
Script/ playwright – Indranil Dey
Director – Sayan Biswas
Production – Ajker Projonmo Theatre, Silchar

April 13: One-act plays are challenging. The playwrights have to be crisp and to the point, with no scope for redundancy. Playwright Indranil Dey’s ‘Chaichi Tumar Bondhutta’ (directed by Sayan Biswas) is one such example. The drama (under Silchar-based theatre group Ajker Pronjonmo Theatre Group) was staged to a packed auditorium at Banga Bhawan on Sunday night (April 10) in Silchar.

The 45-minute play was accompanied by dialogues and music. Chaichi Tomar Bondhutta (written by Indranil Dey and directed by Sayan Biswas), focuses on both uses and abuses of social media and smart phones. Both Indranil and Sayan shines bright through their skillful writing and direction. Without preaching and sermonising, the play successfully puts forth the advantages and the disadvantages of social media and internet-enabled mobile phones.

This light- hearted play begins with a group of individuals (characters wearing t-shirts with Facebook reacts drawn on their t-shirts, personification of the reacts/ reactions in Facebook) deeply engrossed with their respective Facebook profiles. The characters are seen wearing t-shirts of all the reacts/ reactions (love, anger care, like, laugh, wow and sad reacts). There is no physical contact, no social gathering and no meet-ups. Enters lead actor Madhu (played by the brilliant Biplob Das). He literally begs the reacts (actors wearing react t-shirts) to increase the number of reacts in his profile picture so that he can impress another social media queen ‘cutie pie Shalu’/ ‘angel girl’ (played by Biswarupa Purkayastha). Madhu’s feeling of being ‘in love’ is highlighted through the use of the celebrated romantic song ‘Pehla Nasha’ as background music/ song.

The reacts ask him to bring at least one real-life true friend. But Madhu fails to do so. Here the audience is introduced to their life’s bitter truth – all social media friends may not be true. All this adds up to the tragic and the comical elements of the drama. It is at that time when one realises the uselessness of social media.

But instead of ending the play here, Indranil Dey and Sayan Biswas come up with another angle. Enters Oli (played by the superb Somshikha Mazumder), a nerd, spectacled and studious girl (she does not even have a smart phone). This so-called ‘uncool’ girl urges Madhu to give his phone so that she can call some of their friends to join a ‘save the tree’ campaign. By then, it has been established in the drama that a tree would be cut down for constructing a signal tower for a certain mobile company.

A reluctant Madhu creates a Facebook event (save the environment/ save a tree/ operation green), which ultimately saves the tree from being chopped. The proper use of social media gets reflected here. Here Indranil wins as a scriptwriter. He manages to deliver some the aspects of social media to his audience without lengthening the play. His writing and Sayan’s direction come alive on stage (thanks to some stellar performances by the actors on stage).

Scene directions were excellent. When Madhu differs (in her opinion) from Oli, they are seen physically distanced (differences in viewpoints and opinions gets accentuated with their physical distancing). The entry of Subhan Das (auto-driver) creates an aura of mystery. Many thought him to be a villain. On the contrary, he turns out to be a very kind- hearted soul. Subhan Das is a multi-talented theatre artiste.

Lighting is a very important part of theatre. Rupraj Deb’s lighting deserves a special mention here. Subhan Das delivers a brilliant performance. Somshika Mazumder as Oli delivers one of her most stunning performances. Her helplessness gets reflected in her performances. Her mannerisms (especially adjusting her spectacles) go well with her character. Certainly a performance to remember!

Sayan Biswas has become quite a popular name among the young theatre personalities here. Indranil Dey rocks as a writer. Costume and make-up by the talented Somshikha Mazumder are noteworthy. Biplob Das is flawless. He also excels in his scenes. Birabrata Chakraborty is always a treat to watch (he plays of role of ward commissioner Biru Samantha). Other actors include Manik (played by Pratul Sinha), officer (played excellently by Riha Paul), Jhimli (played by Ankita Deb), Arunabha Dutta Banik, Anushree Roy, Maumita Sarkar and Somdatta Das. The background music is apt and never too noisy. Sayan Biswas and Indranil Dey, we are waiting for more such collaborations. Take a bow!