B_P_2015_04_

J

atra, a once-famous form of folk

theatre from Bengal, employing

dialogue, monologue, songs and

instrumental music to tell stories,

has gradually slipped away from

public memory. History and technology

played their own parts in the diminishing

of a centuries-old art form. The partition

and consequent formation of East Pakistan

(now Bangladesh), led to a kind of Jatra that

did not have Hindu folk tales, while on the

Indian side of the border, actors stopped

playing Muslim characters. Television and

cinema drew people away from the streets

and closeted them in their homes. And so,

Jatra companies grew smaller and smaller.

In 2001, there were 300 companies who,

while employing over 20,000 people, were

forced to often offer free performances.

This is my attempt to peep into the daily

lives of these stalwarts of street theatre, and

to glimpse the gloried days when stories

were considered to be the fibre of magic.

— As told to Ambarin Afsar

“Where were

the patrons who

would relish

Jatrapala,

enacted on

wooden stages,

without any

barriers between

the actors and

the audience?”

Dulal Addya, 66,

poses as Girish Chandra

Ghosh, the father

of Bengali theatre.

Barobazar, Kolkata

Sima Bose used to
a famous Jatra artist
in the 1960s and 70s.
For the last ten years,
however, she has
been suffering from
arthritis and cannot
leave her bed. Kolkata,
West Bengal.

Better PhotograPhy

107

aPril 2015