Chitrangada

Chitrangada

Past Event


Price

INR 100

BDT 120

USD 5

CAD 6

AUD 7

EUR 5

GBP 4

AED 18

SGD 7

NZD 7

MYR 21

QAR 18

SAR 19

MVR 77

MXN 100

THB 164

ARS 150

LKR 300

NPR 200


Time

Kolkata, INDIA:7th Aug '21 at 8:00pm till 8th Aug '21 at 11:59pm

Dhaka, BAN:7th Aug '21 at 8:30pm till 9th Aug '21 at 12:29am

New York, US:7th Aug '21 at 10:30am till 8th Aug '21 at 2:29pm

London, UK:7th Aug '21 at 3:30pm till 8th Aug '21 at 7:29pm

Sydney, AUS:8th Aug '21 at 12:30am till 9th Aug '21 at 4:29am

Basic Information:

Dance: Smt. Debamitra Sengupta (as Chitrangada – Both 'Kurupa' & 'Surupa') , Sujit Karmakar (as 'Arjun') , Surajit Biswas (as 'Madana'), Ambika Roy, Archita Chakraborty, Poulami Nag, Bhamoti Basu, Shreya Banerjee, Rohini Sen Yadav, Prateeti Mukhopadhyay, Pragya Sen, Adrija Mukherjee, Sriya Sarkar, Aheli Mukherjee
Vocal Support: Smt. Chandrabali Rudra Dutta, Sri. Subrata Sengupta, Tanmoy Sengupta & others
Pakhawaj: Guru Banamali Moharana
Narration: Sri. Kausik Sen, Smt. Aditi Sen Chattopadhyay
Direction & Choreography: Smt. Debamitra Sengupta

Description:

The dance drama, 'Chitrangada' was written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1936, based on a play he had written in 1892. Recalling the circumstances which led him to write this play Tagore mentioned undertaking a train journey from Santiniketan to Calcutta and observing the wealth of mustard, white and violet blossoms on both sides of the train tracks. However he had realized that with the passage of Spring these would all simply disappear in a mirage of colour. If a beautiful woman sought to ensnare her beloved with only physical beauty, she would have to reckon with its impermanence and contend with its fragility. Beauty was only an external gift while internal spiritual strength was a real and longstanding wealth.

'Chitrangada' narrates the love story of Pandava Arjuna and Princess Chitrangada of Manipur – it beautifully describes how the warrior princess, as she was hunting in the forest, came across the valiant Arjuna and was smitten with his charm. She went to Arjuna and proposed him but was turned down by the Pandava on the pretext of his asceticism. Chitrangada realized that he had refused her for her lack of feminine charm and beauty, She asks Madana, the God of Love, for the weapon she needs, 'beauty', for one year. A transformed Chitrangada has Arjuna entranced by her beauty, who breaks his vow of celibacy. But soon he learns of the woman who rules Manipur - one who loves like a mother and fights like a king. He longs to meet his equal. Chitrangada, the Warrior Princess, enters her own court revealing her true self to Arjuna and demands the right and power to be an equal in prosperity and adversity if Arjuna still wants to marry her. Arjuna accepts her on her own terms.

Our dance drama starts from the sequence of ─ Chitrangada meeting Madana, the God of Love, for the coveted boon of feminine charm and beauty, and the story unfolds in flashback.

The presentation has been composed bi-laterally on Kabiguru’s creations, the play (Kabya-natya) – 'Chitrangada' along with the dance drama (nritya-natya) – 'Chitrangada'.