Calcutta has never run short of paeans, sung in praise and awe, tinged with nostalgia and filled with memories. Mad About Drama (M.A.D.), a theatre group from the city, recently brought their own tribute to the capital. The play, titled “With Love, Calcutta” has been written and directed by Aritra Sengupta and Ayanti Ghosh, and combines a series of vignettes that explore different facets of a city with over three hundred years of history and culture.
“With Love, Calcutta” puts together sketches, scenes that portray different emotions, different actions, and paint the picture of the people who make up the city. Accompanied by videos projected on the stage, the play takes on a timeless, almost surreal quality, where a range of experiences come and go against the backdrop that seems ageless.
There is a lack of consistency though, one that reflects in each vignette. While some are marked with a natural, easy delivery, others seem affected, almost caricatured, highlighting the city's idiosyncrasies in a way that seems forced. Composed of both the old and the new, nostalgia does seem to be a predominant theme, and for anyone familiar with the city and its geography as well as its history, it’s a play that will pull up long forgotten memories. When one scene discusses Utpal Dutt and the other the city’s politically charged moments, when you encounter both intellectual snobbery and endless addas around coffee, it is hard not to remember Calcutta as it used to be.
The actors like the vignettes they belong to, are inconsistent, but manage to put together a picture that is both earnest and charming. Sometimes, the dialogues, though peppered with Bengali in an attempt to sound more natural, come off sounding affected, almost comical, diluting impact. It helps that the music used in the production adds character to the play, becoming yet another way to explore Calcutta and its myriad faces. And while some roles are almost too familiar – the has-been theatre actor, the old world father and the new age son, the rich housewives and the small town girl – they are done with sincerity that is pleasing.
Its heart is in the right place, and “With Love, Calcutta” does pay its tribute with exactly that, love. Sincere and frank, the play suffers in small, but noticeable ways, and its inconsistency keeps it from becoming a great play, while its strengths make it a good one.
