Tropa working on Lalon play

Actress Tropa Majumdar is now busy with her new directorial venture on stage with a play based on the life and philosophy of the great baul maestro Lalon Shah.
Titled ‘Baramkhana’, the play is written by Pantha Shahrier, and will be staged by Theatre.
Being inspired after reading the novel ‘Moner Manush’ by Sunil Gangopadhaya, Tropa planned for a theatre production on baul philosophy. Later, she gave the novel to Pantha for reading. ‘Our play is mainly inspired by that novel. However, we have included some other things related to our present socio-political context,’ Tropa told about her new ventures.
According to her, the ‘canvas’ of the play will be wider. It will cover Lalon’s life, works and the situation after the Partition of India in 1947. Tropa, who earlier directed the play ‘Chhay Beharar Palki’ with Jaglul Alam and later, had her solo directorial debut by the play ‘Mukti’, says that the latest play will include more than twenty persons as cast and most of them are new. She hopes to bring the play on stage within two months.
Tropa expects to bring some variations in the play which will uphold Lalon’s philosophy and the culture based on the mazar (shrine) in the country as well. In the play, Lolon’s songs will be incorporated with dialogues. ‘No doubt, music will play an important role in the play, but variation in style will also be there,’ she added.
Tropa believes, some people tried to Islamise Lalon’s secular philosophy after the Partition. ‘Many people have also been doing politics with his ideals to meet their own vested interest. I want to show these odds by presenting Lalon as a symbol,’ she said.
Tropa is also performing in the popular drama serial ‘Poush Faguner Pala’, directed by Afsana Mimi and telecast on ATN Bangla. Adapted from Gajendra Mitra’s novel ‘Trayee’ and jointly scripted by Iraj Ahmed and Mansur Rahman Chanchal, the play is set against the backdrop of the capital and its outskirt areas at the sixties and seventies, ‘For the first time in my performing career I am playing the role as a daughter of my mother Ferdousi Majumdar in the serial,’ says Tropa.
For the approaching Eid, Tropa has completed shooting for a one-hour play written and directed Subarna Mustafa. In the play, Tropa played a kleptomaniac woman.
She is also regularly performing on stage in the plays ‘Meraj Fakirer Ma’, ‘Madhabi’ and ‘Mukti’ by Theatre Expressing her optimism about theatre she said that the theatregoers are getting better productions in recent time. Many of the contemporary plays have interesting aspects to move the audience, she said. While appreciating the tendency to experiment on the form and style of theatre, she mentioned that the experiments should be done carefully.