Theatre review: Je Janlagulor Akash Chhilo
Cast: Buddhadev Das, Pratik Dutta, Krishnendu Saha, and Turna DasDirector: Saurav PalodhiDuration: 2hr 45minLanguage: BengaliRating: 3.5Adapted from stories by the late Rahul Arunoday Banerjee, Thakurpukur-based Ichheymoto’s Je Janlagulor Akash Chhilo charts the lives of four Xennial friends – Buban (Buddhadev Das), Tubai (Pratik Dutta), Tatin (Krishnendu Saha), and Soma (Turna Das).
In Bijoygarh colony, they navigate life’s highs and lows as one, steeped in late ’90s romance: Shah Rukh Khan ballads, dreamy slow-motion, the hum of adda under neighborhood lights.Narrator Buban draws us in, profiling families and forging trials that sculpt their ideologies. Against Kolkata’s morphing political terrain – from Leftist legacies to Right-wing stirrings – the story vaults across decades, tracing mindset shifts that echo strained family ties.
Flashpoints abound: East vs West Bengal identities, Left vs Right divides. These polarize the quartet, but the play pivots to intimate grief – the dissolution of their shared world, regret trailing like evening shadows.Energetic and poignant, the show embraces nostalgia without sentimentality. Minimal sets – chairs, projections – let spotlights dance, spotlighting monologues on home turfs, endured abuse, societal slots.
Brain drain, developmental droughts thread through, fueling longing for a memory-bound past, tinted rosy yet laced with melancholic tunes. Jamaican Farewell aches with forward marches; Apu–Durga echoes twist journeys into poignant inevitability.A leisurely rhythm sustains it, blending tears with laughs. Bimal Chakraborty and Aditya Nandy ignite the Bangal father-in-law/Ghoti son-in-law spark with precise warmth. Wridhhyan Dasgupta’s young Tubai, Buban, and Tatin radiate naturalism; Meghatri Mondal’s innocent young Soma refreshes the stage – director Saurav Palodhi’s child mastery evident (Onko Ki Kothin). Turna Das layers Soma richly, edged by Pratik Dutta’s fierce Tubai (inheriting Banerjee’s role) and Krishnendu Saha’s rupturing Tatin, who claims existence by fleeing bhodrolok abuse society ignores.Buban endures: Buddhadev Das molds him as Shakespearean Fool – observer, player, decoder – with Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’s young SRK flair. His actor dreams bloom, but the role’s range peaks in a wrenching finale, jarring viewers. It probes choices personal and political: Did Bengal’s forward leaps recoil us backward, beyond salvage?– Poorna Banerjee
