Centenary Celebration of Habib Tanvir and Special Talk by Mahesh Dattani

The Department of English, the Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata organised a special event to celebrate the Birth Centenary of the renowned Indian Urdu, Hindi, English playwright, actor, director, and poet Habib Tanvir in the Jubilee Hall on 1st April, 2023 from 11am to 5pm.

The grand event was divided into three segments that included a special talk delivered by the Guest of Honour, Shri Mahesh Dattani, a poster-making competition for Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of the Department accompanied by a staging of Habib Tanvir’s seminal play Charandas Chor enacted by the Undergraduate students of the Department.

Dr. Jashomati Ghose, Assistant Professor, Department of English, warm-heartedly welcomed all the attendees. A short welcome address was delivered by Dr. Gargi Talapatra, In-Charge, Department of English.

After the felicitation of the chief guest, Mr. Mahesh Dattani, a special talk was delivered by him. Mr. Mahesh Dattni is an eminent Indian English playwright, director, actor, and recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, whose prolific plays highlighting social issues form a part of the Undergraduate and Postgraduate curriculum of the Department of English. Mr. Dattani’s talk focussed on his decades of experience of being associated with Indian English Theatre. The exhilarating talk focussed on the processes of active textual analysis from the perspectives of a director. It also touched upon the domain of traditional Indian theatrical practices and poetics highlighting the nuances of Natyashastra and the Indian Rasa Theory along with the metrics of ancient Greek Appolonian and Dionysian dimensions. The pandemonia associated with love and viraha (separation) were also aesthetically emphasised. Mr. Dattani, a trained classical dancer himself, gracefully read out an excerpt from Bravely Fought the Queen (prescribed at the Undergraduate level) in his grandiloquent voice drawing parallels with the rhythmic Kathak tukda leaving the audience completely enthralled. The attendees were further enamoured by his lively presence, witty remarks, and a rapturous sense of humour. The empowering talk was accompanied by an invigorating discussion, a dynamic consciousness raising exercise for the listeners, drawing links between Indian aesthetics, art, culture, dance, music, and theatre.

After a compelling talk by the Indian maestro, 26 students of the 2nd semester at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate level from the Department of English showcased their artistic skills by presenting demonstrative posters on the theme of Indian Writing in English as a part of the poster-making competition. The posters creatively highlighted varied social evils like dominance and oppression of women in a patriarchal setup as depicted in the works of celebrated Indian women poets and novelists like Kamala Das, Toru Dutt, Ishmat Chugtai, to name a few. The anti-social elements like widespread corruption depicted in comic strips of R.K Laxman, the prolific Indian cartoonist, were also presented through the posters. A few posters also dealt with sub-themes of nationalist writings of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore and Aurobindo Ghose, women’s autobiographies like that of Rassundari Devi, Binodini Dasi, Indian Drama in English (Mahesh Dattani, Habib Tanvir, Garnish Karnad, Badal Sircar). The competition was jointly judged by a panel of judges comprising Mr. Mahesh Dattani, Dr. Souraja Tagore and Ms. Sonal Kapur from the Department of English. Iemon Sarkar won the first position, while Hemoshmita Ray and Amritarupa Laha were the runners up.

The second half of the event comprised the magnificent staging of one of the most renowned plays of Habib Tanvir, Charandas Chor, executed by 16 Undergraduate students of the 4th and 6th semester under the esteemed supervision, guidance, and direction of Prof. Tathagata Sen, Joint-IQAC Coordinator and Associate Professor, Department of English. Prof. Sen was also the chief organiser of the entire event. The staging was judged by the playwright of world stature, Mr. Mahesh Dattani himself. At the end of the play, Mr. Dattani chose three students who were awarded for their stellar performances. Swagata Mukherjee who effortlessly essayed the titular role won the first prize, while Rishav Nayak, who played the role of the notorious hawaldar, and Vishal Patel, who essayed the enigmatic Guruji were the runners up.

Ms. Chitrangada Deb, Department of English, delivered the Vote of Thanks and concluded the monumental event. Certificates were awarded to all the participants and the volunteers. Prof. Tathagata Sen’s endless enthusiasm, visionary efforts accompanied with unwavering support of his student volunteers and that of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Department made the entire event a grand success. The event was duly recorded. The stalwart Mr. Dattani deserves a special mention for promptly agreeing to grace the occasion with his dynamic presence.

The honourable Teacher-in-Charge Dr. Subhabrata Ganguly, and the honourable Dean of Students’ Affairs, Mr. Dilip Shah also graced the occasion briefly despite their busy schedule. The former Teacher-in-Charge and Associate Professor, Department of English, Dr. Suchandra Chakravarty was also present.

The event was attended by 134 students of the Department of English, teaching and non-teaching staff and former students of the Department.

Feedback forms for the event were circulated amongst the students and have been maintained for record by the Department.