(From left) Bratati Bandyopadhyay, Srabani Sen, Srikanto Acharya and Bickram Ghosh at the script-reading session for Chhinnopotro. (Bhubaneswarananda Halder)

Srikanto Acharya, Srabani Sen, Bickram Ghosh and Bratati Bandyopadhyay have got together to revisit the personal letters of Rabindranath Tagore and bring alive some of the Bard’s thoughts through a mix of poetry, songs and narration, which will culminate in a 90-minute stage show called Chhinnopotro.

The project is being steered by Inner Circle Films, a five-year-old production wing of Inner Circle Advertising that had produced Subrata Sen’s Hothat Neerar Jonnyo. “From 1887 to 1895, Tagore had written more than 150 letters to Indira Devi Chowdhurani, his niece. But the text of those letters is more like monologues. They talk about nature, death, joy, sorrow and seem to hold the premise for the poems, songs and stories he went on to write later. The letter readings will help rediscover Tagore’s journey and his later works,” said Kanchan Datta, director of Inner Circle Films.

Comprising poems like Ek Gnaye and Ebar Phirao More to songs like Amar praaner porey choley gelo and Jhoro jhoro borishey, the adaptation of Chhinnopotro researched and scripted by Hindol Bhattacharya will feature Srikanto as the voice of Tagore and Bratati as the narrator. The songs will be sung by Srabani Sen and Bickram Ghosh will design the soundscape reminiscent of that era. “We hope to have a series of stage shows in November before launching an audio CD,” added Kanchan.

The production house also wants to popularise the genre of taped literature in the form of audio books after Shesher Kobita, directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay and produced by Inner Circle as an audio book, hit the bestseller mark two years ago. “Audio books are an effective way of getting the urban youth to connect with Bengali literature. We got Kharaj Mukherjee to do Pagla Dashu and it worked wonders,” said Kanchan, who is collaborating with Mir for an audio book on Tenida’s adventures.

Next up is Robiraag featuring Tagore songs inspired by Indian classical music that Tanmoy Bose will direct, and a musical adaptation of Alibaba and the 40 Thieves in Bengali.

Mohua Das