Play Review: Joota Abishkar

Adapted from the comic poem by the same name written by Rabindranath Tagore about 100 years ago and freeing itself from the kind of pretensions that usually accompany Tagore adaptations, Joota Abishkar (The Invention of Shoes), staged at the Chowdhury House recently, was a surprisingly fresh and enjoyable experience.

An interesting ensemble of artistes, some accomplished and others promising, played a motley bunch of corrupt and selfish ministers to a whimsical king who longs for a remedy for keeping his feet clean. This is apparently during a time when shoes have not been discovered yet. The king’s orders make all hell break loose as his ministers start raking their brains to come up with a way to rid the roads of dust (as they see to be the best way to address the king’s problem), only to fail miserably time and again. The day is finally saved by an old cobbler who offers a practical solution to the problem by gifting the distressed king with a pair of shoes.

So much for the story, which, like most of Tagore’s lighter works, conceals graver social commentaries and deeper meanings. The play brings with it further contemporary pertinence with references to the state of modern politics, corruption, broadcasting media and of course, the wave of ‘Paribartan’ across the land, the new pet theme for Calcuttans.

Joota Abishkar is more of an aural experience than visual. It’s the kind of a play that you could enjoy in good measures by simply listening to it with friends and family, imagining about the characters in your mind. One would possibly miss the little jig that the king (played by Debkumar Basu, who also directs) breaks into after he gets his pair of shoes towards the end of the play, or the rather funny scene where the chief minister (played by Biswajit Chakraborty) is seen wading through chest deep water, an unforeseen consequence of trying to wash the streets with gallons of water, keeping the spirit up by singing with the others, before breaking into a horrible fit of sneezing in the end.

But save such sporadic bursts of visual humor, the entire play gains strength from an entertaining script and a very innovative use of music, both appealing to the ears rather than the eyes. Basu has made copious use of popular tunes from Tagore with new lyrics, resulting in amusing little diversions in an otherwise highly enjoyable interplay of rhyming dialogues.

Joota Abishkar, thus remains an aural experience to relish. The producers may think of bringing out an audio CD of the play. They can rest assured that such an endeavor will not take away from the enjoyment of the play. Rather, it will place it in the right format for better appreciation and easier consumption.