Noti Binodini's Binodini Opera

Aparajito presents the Grand Musical Binodini Opera starring Sudipta Chakraborty, the life story of Nati Binodini Das, who ruled the Bengali Theatres in the 18th Century. With actors like Sujan Neel Mukhopadhyay as Gurmukh Rai, Sudipta Chakraborty as Noti Binodini, Padmanabha Dasgupta Kumar Bahadur, Tathagata Choudhury as Amritalal Basu, Abhijit Guja as Girish Chandra to name a few, directed by Abanti Chakraborty, the play questions the patriarchy in contemporary times through a narrative of songs & illustrative performance.

They have taken the concept of tragedy as falling from prosperity into misery and wretchedness.

The Binodini Opera is not only a Drama but an opera because music plays an important role in it & its fully Live Music, where there will be Girish Chandra's play-songs along with Rabindranath Tagore's ones.

The Flower of the Native Stage. This was the title given to Nati Binodini by the media in 19th-century Bengal. The origin of Sadharon Rangaloy, as the public theatre was called, may be traced to the impact of the theatrical activities of the English in Calcutta. As the term Sadharon Rangaloy suggests the new theatre was to be set up in contrast, if not in actual opposition to the exclusive theatre clubs of the upper classes.

The arrival of the British bourgeoisie in Bengal meant the introduction of new commercial and administrative relations, accompanied by the prevalent values of the 19th-century capitalist system.

Jealousy over prostitutes among Bengali aristocrats and bhodrolok which quite often led to act of violence against these women could have reflected the macho instinct of holding on to the much sought-after prostitute as a trophy and resenting violently the trophy’s choice of another man. When Kumar Bahadur, a young jealous lover was about to kill Binodini with his sword, an alert Binodini held him by his hand and reminded him of his respectable bhodrolok family background and the scandal that could blemish his family reputation if he was hanged for murdering a prostitute. She did not weep or make pathetic appeals to him to spare her as one would have normally expected from a threatened woman in that circumstance. It was her experiences with the bhodrolok lovers and her accumulated knowledge about the chink in their armour that emboldened her.

Abanti Chakraborty, as a director, has always dealt with female sexuality in the most productive way. Her method is a rare combination of lunatism and art. The spirit of the term “opera” was very innocently knitted in Binodini Opera and it is quite evident that she doesn’t want this production to be termed as over-designed. She wanted to keep intact the lyrical elements of a tragedy.

Binodini Opera is a magnanimous production taking the audience back to the Babu Culture & as if they are the participants of that era. A must watch for Bengali Audience.