Six years on, Soumitra’s daughter keeps master's legacy alive on stage

Today (15 November) marks the sixth death anniversary of Soumitra Chatterjee – a colossus who strode across the worlds of cinema and theatre for more than half a century as an actor par excellence, director and playwright, while also making his mark as a poet and editor of a highly discerning little magazine for years. A true Renaissance man for Bengalis, if you like.

As social media walls fill up with tributes and some of his legion of admirers perhaps turn to OTT archives to revisit his timeless films on a Sunday, his daughter, Poulami Bose, has no such ‘luxury’. She is busy preparing for another staging of her new play, Pratarana, scheduled for 19 November at Madhusudhan Mancha.

Adapted from British playwright Harold Pinter’s critically acclaimed Betrayal by Poulami’s father himself, the play is a deft exploration of deception and drama in a triangular relationship. Poulami had first staged it to favourable reviews earlier this year.

“Ideally, we wanted to stage the play on the day Bapi left us, but the availability of halls around this time of the year is always a concern. Six years have gone by since he passed away, but, to be frank with you, we see both his birthday (19 January) and his death anniversary more as occasions to celebrate his life and work. As for the sense of loss, you could say that I have internalised it,” said Poulami, an accomplished theatre director-actor and former Bharatanatyam dancer.

Keeping alive the legacy of someone like Soumitra Chatterjee, with such an extensive body of work, has never been easy. Over the years, Poulami has done her best to bring some of her father's earlier works to life on stage. These include Janmantar (Rebirth), Chandanpurer Chor (The Thief of Chandanpur) – a somewhat light-hearted adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s Carnival of Thieves – which she staged on his birth anniversary, and Pratarana, her latest production this year.

It works out to at least one production a year, which, in a way, can be seen as a personal tribute by Poulami and MukhoMukhi, a close-knit group of theatre enthusiasts. However, these productions are not the only commitments that keep her busy. She divides her time between what are often referred to as big productions and requests from smaller theatre groups, finding it difficult to say ‘no’ in most cases.

Those in the know are familiar with the extremely demanding routine she has maintained for nearly a decade – juggling her responsibilities as a caregiver to her son, Ronodeep, who suffered a debilitating two-wheeler accident back in 2017, with her hectic theatre schedule.

 It was hence a double whammy for her when six years back, she lost both the parents – first Soumitra and mother Deepa within six months of each other. Speaking exclusively to National Herald,  a candid Poulami said: ‘’The two were like a rock to me during such a period of personal turbulence for nearly 10 years. The support they provided was invaluable and hence, I find that I am still struggling to cope with the sense of emptiness.’’

 Looking ahead, Poulami reveals that she plans to raise the bar for her pet project in the making for sometime – the Soumitra & Deepa Chatterjee Foundation. The foundation had been in existence for a few years now and led the curating for a festival of serious theatre, in collaboration with Mukho Mukhi, taking place at the Academy of Fine Arts on the week of his birthday. A Soumitra Chatterjee Memorial Lecture had also been initiated with Debshankar Haldar and Koushik Sen, two stalwarts of the stage, the speakers in first two years and needs to revived.

Poulami now wants to open up different front of activities through the foundation which would carry forward the legacy for her parents. ‘’One of my motivation behind increasing the scope of work of the foundation is that while most people keep talking about my father, maa was a woman of multi-facted talent which often goes under the radar – and they complemented each other extremely well. Not only was she a multiple state champion in badminton who gave up the sport for the family, she was an accomplished Ikebana artist who ran her own outlet and more importantly, a champion of women’s cause.

‘’Hence, my plan is to institute awards for promising performers in art forms, sport etc. Let’s see how it works out,’’ she added.