Back in business: After 33 years, Debesh Chattopadhyay returns to acting on stage

kolkata: The last time he acted on stage was in 1990. Now after 33 years, thespian Debesh Chattopadhyay is back on stage as an actor in Arpita Ghosh’s new Bengali play, ‘Tumi Thik Jodi Bhabo Tumi Thik’. An adaptation of acclaimed Italian dramatist’s Luigi Pirandello work ‘Right You Are (if you think so)’, the play will be staged on Friday at 6.30 pm at Rabindra Sadan in Mukhomukhi theater festival.

So, what convinced him to come back to theatre acting after three decades? “Arpita, Arna Mukhopadhyay, his wife, and I were on a holiday in the hills. So, I was reading out the play by Pirandello. I fell asleep but in the morning, I learned Arpita and Arna were interested to do the play for Pancham Vaidik. So, the play was hijacked from me. As compensation, I asked Arpita to cast me in the play,” laughed Chattopadhyay, whose recent theatre production ‘Khokkos’ as part of the theatre fest, was widely appreciated. In fact, it was Ghosh, who adapted the play in Bengali from ‘The Dragon’ for him. This isn’t the first time, Chattopadhyay is working on Pirandello. The Italian dramatist has been a favourite of the veteran theatre director. He had directed ‘Kothakar Charitra Kothay Rekhechho’, an adaptation of Pirandello’s play ‘Six Characters In Search Of An Author’. Then, he adapted his popular play ‘Henry IV’ with Rajatava Dutta in the lead.

Though Chattopadhyay has acted in films like ‘Herbert’, ‘Chaplin’, he refrained from acting in plays. “Actually, I don’t enjoy acting in theatre. My director persona overshadows and overpowers my acting capabilities. When I act, my focus remains on the music, or the light arrangement. This hampers my concentration as an actor,” he said. Did he have creative differences with Ghosh? “Of course, I did during rehearsals but in the end, I am happy with the play,” he told Millennium Post.

In ‘Tumi Thik Jodi Bhabo Tumi Thik’, Chattopadhyay will be seen as a wildlife photographer. But the story just like any of Pirandello’s other plays is multilayered. And so is truth. Meanwhile, Chattopadhyay is also busy with Sansriti’s stage production, ‘Hayavadana’ based on Girish Karnad’s work. ‘Khokkos’, which has Rupam Islam as the music director, will be staged at Girish Mancha on June 18.