Nandanik's play Nayika mesmerizes audience

Report of staging of Nandanik's play Nayika

The recently concluded fourth edition of the Deomali National Theatre Festival 2019 at Koraput, Odisha featured plays from well-established theatre groups from theatre hubs New Delhi and Kolkata among others. But the play which had the audience talking was the organizing team's new play, Nayika.

It was written and directed by Sourav Gupta drew attention for a number of reasons. First, the play was based on the poems of celebrated Odia poet Padmabhusan Ramakanta Rath. This was a rare experiment in Odisha's theatre scene as most of the plays are either written by playwrights based on their own ideas. When it comes to literature adaptations, stories and novels have an upper hand compared to poems. Modernist poets like Rath have rarely been treated in Theatre. There have been distinct isolation of literature with theatre with playwrights being kept away from the literary circle, dominated by poets and novelists, the reason why poems rarely appear on modern Odia stage. So, the Nandanik's new play generated a lot of interest and curiosity among literature lovers of Koraput as to how a poem may be brought to the stage. The other reason was obviously that Nandanik was for the first time trying out the work of an Odia writer after the successful staging of international writers like Ibsen, Chekov and national writers like Bharatendu and Manoj Mitra. Sourav Gupta, the Director of the paly, was a reputed director in Kolkata known for his experiments in alternative space. So, it would be interesting to see how he presents the fine nuances of Ramakanta Rath on stage. 

The play Nayika centred round the attraction of a man for an actress of the Annapurna Theatre of Cuttack-a memory, with which he chose to live forever. Why such a topic? 'We think the answer to all kinds of degradation of moral & societal values, lies in love, pure love is now ever relevant and its need should be reiterated. Ramakanta Rath has beautifully portrayed human psychology and his poems centre around people with very different mindsets, marginal and terminal people of the society who are unconventional," explained Gupta.

The reaction of the audience may be gauged from the fact that theatre personalities like Narendra Mishra, Ashok Kar and Sushanta Kar were all praise about acting and stagecraft. Veteran playwright-director Gouri Prasad Rath commented, 'I want to become young again and act in this play, I am spellbound.' Shri Jugal Kishore Panda, Programme Executive, AIR Jeypore said, 'I am totally mesmerized by this play and congratulate Nandanik for this wonderful effort'. Shri R S Das, Executive Director, NALCO, Damanjodi and Shri Krishna Singh, an eminent social worker from Semiliguda were appreciative of the play.

'The performance was the best that could be hoped for. Congratulations on the adventure. During 60 years of my acquaintance with Koraput, I never saw the enactment of a play of this standard.', exclaimed Shri Narayan Panda, eminent author-critique. 'It was a memorable evening for me and I have become a fan of Nandanik........I enjoyed every minute of this play', was how Dr Pritidhara Samal, an eminent poet and an authority on Ramakanta Rath's poems, expressed her satisfaction. Among others who expressed their delight was Ms. Padma Shastri, veteran teacher, Shri Umakanta Das, author & actor, Shri Jaladhara Swain, an eminent poet and Shri Chelapila Santakar, eminent journalist.

The cast of Nayika includes Sitangshu Rath, Pradeep Routray, Ajay Edding, Ranjit Jena and Sanam Gahan in acting, Monideepa Gupta as choreographer & music operator and Saumendra Kr Swain in light direction. Monideepa Gupta, the secretary of Nandanik informed that the group has been blessed by the octogenarian poet himself. In an email message, Ramakanta Rath wrote, "Thank you for finding in my poems material for your play. I wish you all success.' The director informed that Nandanik is planning to stage Nayika further in different college classrooms in intimate form.

Established in 2014, Nandanik is a theatre group comprising youth of Koraput region. It was founded and guided by Dr Sourav Gupta, a professor at the Central University of Koraput and his wife Monideepa Gupta. The group has through its continuous activities catapulted Koraput in the national theatre map.