Direction : - Avneesh Mishra
Writer : Ather Jaffery & Avneesh Mishra
Cast : Piloo Vidyarthi Shashi Bhushan Chaturvedi Anamika Tiwari Shridhar Nagraj Ajitesh Gupta Monika Mishra Vandana Bhushan Ananya Purkayashta Pratik Pendharkar Akhil Tiwari Roshan Shetty Varun Kulkarni Kush Jobanputra Ameya Ghule Shailendra Singh Ather Pankaj Dixit Mridul Ghosh Sukanya Purkayashta Snigdha Pious Anuraag Sengupta Devendra Singh Rajat Singh Ravikant Nirala Errol Rodrigues

THE SUN SET IN THE EAST Play Review

Deepa Punjani	Host-A-Performance \| Schedule

THE SUN SET IN THE EAST Review

Bengal has been home to some pioneers in their respective fields. Hiralal Sen (1866-1917) who lived in the undivided Bengal of his time was the first Indian filmmaker. Paresh Mokashi restored Dadasaheb Phalke's memory in the national consciousness through the biopic (Harishchandrachi Factory) based on Phalke's 1913 film Raja Harishchandra. Hiralal Sen precedes Dadasaheb Phalke. The last film by Sen's company is said to be made in 1913. In 2018, Arun Roy's biopic Hiralal was shown at the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival. Now Mumbai-based theatre group Rangshila recalls the Bengali maverick in their musical THE SUN SET IN THE EAST.

Biographies on stage and in film are always an interesting prospect but a lot depends not only on the research and the material available, but also on the viewpoint of the maker. Like in any production, sensibility also informs the creative undertaking of biographies. Rangshila's production, directed by Avneesh Mishra has a big cast that is musically trained and savvy. It is also strong in performance and is spontaneous. This ensures an engrossing show in which the many strands of Bengali and even Hindustani culture resonate in the music and the songs sung. Avneesh Mishra is adept at casting big ensembles, and ensuring they deliver.

Hiralal Sen's work as a filmmaker drew support from the established Bengali theatre of his time. Many of his films depicted scenes from theatre productions staged at Amrendra Dutta's Classic Theatre. It was a creative collaboration though purists were of the opinion that this would mean the death of the theatre. Sen's interest in films grew from photography, which he practiced much to the dislike of his father who was a lawyer. Motion pictures then had just begun to mesmerise Indian audiences. It was a phenomenon unlike anything watched before. Hiralal Sen was transfixed by the technology and soon after he went into business by setting up The Royal Bioscope Company, possibly the first film production company that was set up in India. The company however could not be sustained and ran into a loss.

Rangshila's production presents the broad contours of Hiralal Sen's journey from his young days as a photographer to a filmmaker who came to be credited as India's first ad filmmaker, as well as the maker of its first political documentary. There are tragic episodes and philosophical reflections, and for the latter, the familiar and overused trope of the clown is employed. Similarly, the narrative plays out a series of imagined scenes from Sen's life. Perhaps, because a fire destroyed most of Sen's work, there is little to go by in appreciating the man through the work he actually produced. His biography is also thin. There are conjectures about various aspects of Sen's life. The actors improvise and inject a good dose of humour to overcome the quotidian and the tragic. They have, what is popularly regarded in the theatre as "timing", but the overall endeavour still has the feel of a romanticised drama.

*Deepa Punjani has been writing on theatre and performance for close to two decades. She represents the Indian National Section of Theatre Critics, which is part of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) that has over 50 participating countries.

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THE SUN SET IN THE EAST Play Review

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