Raktakarabi - Bengali Play By Kasba Arghya: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR RAKTAKARABI - BENGALI PLAY...

The University Of Hyderabad, along with Hyderabad Bangalee Samity and Department of Culture, is presenting Basanta Utsav: Roop-Raag, Rabindra Jayanti: 150 years celebrations from 4th to 6th February at the Rabindra Bharathi auditorium.

As part of the utsav, Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali play "Raktakarabi" will be staged by Kasba Arghya from Kolkata on 4th February. It is directed by Manish Mitra.

Red Oleanders (Raktakarabi) is one of the many plays, dance dramas and dramatic sketches by Asia's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The idea of the play started forming during a visit to Shillong, Assam, and was inspired by the image of a red oleander plant crushed by pieces of discarded iron that Tagore had come across while walking. A short time later, an oleander branch with a single red flower protruded through the debris, as if, Tagore noted, "created from the blood of its cruelly pierced breast".

The writing process was not a straightforward one and involved some 10 drafts and various titles such as Yakshapuri (a mythical city of unparalleled wealth) and Nandini (after the heroine who seeks to tear down the barrier behind which the king is secluded). Curiously, the Bengali version of the play was staged only once in the poet's lifetime by his family in their Jorasanko residence, and it was only in 1954 that a successful staging was accomplished under the direction of Sombhu Mitra's Bohurupee company.

Entry is free for everyone. Please contact Hyderabad Bangalee Samity at 2763-5920 / 2766-5977 for further details.