Spandan Docu Theatre

Real Incident, Information Based, Terrorism Now On Stage
Malay Kundu

The human beings who came to buy gifts for festival all on a sudden transform in to mere “bodies”. Again many a dream was burnt by the power of RDX. Even the modern men at American Trade Center could not guess this might happen. Again when in the dark arena of London Tubes an innocent youth was gunned down by the cops thousands of questions went unanswered. Only one word kept coming back in words of common people through newspapers, through television channels, “Terrorist”.
This small word, itself, has made the mankind stand in front of a new philosophy. There is no real difference between the killing of mankind in the name of religion, poverty or at times the country and the ruthless killing of mankind by the administration itself in the name of curbing terrorism.

Still man wants to find out the answer, wants to find out the path of light. This contemporary subject has touched Sangram Guha, once journalist now a playwright.Again the subject matter for his play is terrorism. Description of a real life incident is the soul of his latest effort. “Istishadi”, written and directed by Guha, is going to be staged today. This drama, according to him, is a 'documentary drama'.” Nowadays theater is not really dealing with any real life happening as such. But this terrorism is by far the most dangerous problem throughout the world and that is the subject of my drama.

All the events in this drama are real and information based.” Explained Guha while talking about “Istishadi”. “Ground Zero”, “16 Millimeter” and “Operation Flush” the subject matter for all these three previous plays by Guha were terrorism related. This time, too, the toil for three long years is lying behind the creation of “Istishadi”. 'Operation Leech 2' began in the year 1998. There is an arms carrying route for the terrorists from Myanmar to Kashmir. The Government wanted to curb the terrorists through this operation.

During this period the terrorists used to be killed by the army while surrendering under the direct instruction by then Defence Minister. Such incident took place at least on five occasions. On the last occasion, things went wrong. Being unaware of the order to kill the surrendering terrorists, a Subahdar gunned down one of his colleagues. He was then court-martialed. Now he is confined in a mental asylum. Surinder Singh got killed in the exchange of fire during the operation. Dona Bedi, his daughter, wanted to reach the roots of the incidents. And then the information on incidents of sheer brutality came out one after the other. News of various terrorist activities around the world comes out to the surface. Ultimately Dona Bedi died in Tihar Jail. Guha has written “Istishadi” on the basis of the information collected by that Dona Bedi. The identities of all the characters of the drama have been kept unchanged. It is equally true for the people who got killed. Names have been change only for the people who are still alive. His drama has already become a controversial issue. “Whatever takes place I am determined to carry on with this drama. The souls of the people who are not directly associated with politics search for an answer to their queries, too. That human appeal will be there throughout the drama.” Guha is determined to overcome the controversies this way.

The Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Ex Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat and writer Sunil Gangopadhyay will be present on Monday, i.e., today. Organised by Indian Peoples Theater Association.