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AS Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, I had thought, Mr Ajit Panja to be somewhat of a lightweight, hoisted onto the Ministry by his defection to theTrinamul Congress. But whatever might be his critical mass as Minister I was quite charmed by his title role in "Sri Sri Ramakrishna". The play was about the famous Calcutta actress (dubbed the "Empress of the Theatre") Binodini, who won the affection and blessings of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. In the 19th century women from respectable homes did not go on the stage. Acting didn’t provide much of an income, and actresses had to survive by being the "kept" women of the rich. Binodini, too, had come up from those ranks, but two things completely changed her life. One, she became passionate about the theatre and wished for no other ‘master’. And, two, Ramakrishna Paramhansa came one day to see her in the role of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and came backstage to bless her. People were appalled that the epitome of the good and the holy would even touch an actress. But he, of course, was far removed from such petty considerations. Binodini was completely overwhelmed. Like others, including the famous dramatist and actor, Girish Chandra Ghosh, and also Vivekananda, Binodini felt as if lightning passed through her at Ramakrishna’s touch and she fell unconscious. |
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| Ajit Panja had got together the whole
company, all of whom were lawyers of Calcutta. They did
exceedingly well. Panja himself was excellent as
Ramakrishna — simple but far from being a simpleton,
affectionate to all who came to him, always within inches
of going into samadhi, explaining the deepest lessons of
philosophy and faith in everyday language and the
embodiment of the link between God and man. The hall in
Delhi was full to capacity. People were sitting in the
aisles. As the play progressed most eyes were wet. The
songs were well rendered. To make it a play that can
travel, the sets were rudimentary. Obviously the players
were enjoying themselves. In films we have a lot of
dubbing nowadays. I watch the second Bengali channel
Alpha TV and find that quite a number of the serials are
dubbed into Bengali from other languages. The lip
movements proclaim it but sometimes the dubbing is very
good. Can’t there be some dubbing in dramas then the
terrible barrier of language in India could be done away
with? I am sure it is possible. "Sri Sri
Ramakrishna" performed in Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil,
Malayalam, Telugu, Assamese and Kannada would do well.
What irritated me was the long wait for Ministers and
other delays. Craftsmen neglected We do not really care for our craftsmen. Very recently, a group of Orissa crafstmen were invited to Delhi. But the publicity, was so slack that very few people came to see their work. A friend of mine who went to see their work was appalled at the cold response they got in Delhi. On tussar silk, there was painted the whole story of the Ramayana on some 78 square panels. Each panel looked almost like a Moghul miniature. The work was framed in plastic and was about 9 feet by 6 feet in size. Each frame was meticulously painted. The craftsmen were sad that they would have to cart this piece of work back to Orissa. My friend was embarrassed that she didn’t have enough money to pay for such a beautiful work. The price expected was Rs. 50,000, too much for my friend’s pocketbook. Diffidently she suggested Rs. 20,000. Rather than carry it back all the way to Orissa the craftspeople reluctantly agreed and said "if you can afford to give a little more then send it to us in Orissa". We, her friends, watching it, were wonder-struck at the work which must have taken months to complete. Each panel was beautifully executed. One felt sorry for the traditional craftspeople who cannot find patrons and buyers for such magnificent work. Hey! Ram High honour to Kamal Haasan for producing the film "Hey! Ram". It makes us look into ourselves. Of course there will always be people in India and political parties and groups who will object to anything produced about Gandhiji, Jinnah, the Shiv Sena, the Emergency everything. We are like that. To rise above this and produce a film needs courage. Kamal Haasan has put forward number of questions. Was Gandhiji right? Did he let loose an Indian Holocaust? Could that have been prevented? And so on. A friend of mine said that Kamal Haasan glided over the Hindu atrocities and zeroed in on the Muslim. I don’t believe so. He showed what the terrible effects of murder and mayhem in the name of religion. He himself is, for an Indian film star, a low-intensity hero who wants to convey that India is a great and diversified country. Naseeruddin Shah has a small part as Gandhiji but he plays it with perfection. |
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