Iman Chakraborty talks about bringing Kolkata’s first musical theatre to the stage and making her stage debut in acting
Very few singers from Kolkata have made history throughout their careers and one of them is Iman Chakraborty. From her debut playback in Praktan, Tumi Jake Bhalobasho which won her the National Award to gallons of love through the folk song Rangabati in Gotro, her career is marked by milestones. And she is ready to make history once again by bringing a musical theatre to stage, Tomake Dekhbo Bole on March 22 and 23 directed by Nilanjan. As Iman sings and makes her acting debut on stage through this performance, we catch up with her to know more.
Excerpts:
How did the idea of bringing a musical theatre which is primarily a western concept to Bengal come about?
Nilanjan and I were in the UK and we had gone to see The Phantom of the Opera and since then he told me that why can’t we do the same on stage in Bengal. That was his idea and we can call it a musical theatre as well. I am performing, singing, dancing and acting on stage. My students are with me. It’s a huge thing that even I have never done this kind of show. All 18 songs, playbacks, original songs etc are being performed in front of my audience.
Tell us about the name Tomake Dekhbo Bole…
Tomake Dekhbo Bole is a song written by Dipangshu Acharya and composed by Saptak Sanai Das. I was very happy with the song and recorded it. When we were discussing the name of the musical theatre, somebody was humming it. First we thought we would name it Tumi Jake Bhalobasho but then after that we loved Tomake Dekhbo Bole so much that we went ahead with it as the name.
So, what went behind in putting up the whole performance?
We went to the UK in 2022. Two years after that we spent trying to get sponsors and finally we have some backing now. Last two months my team and I have not done any shows but rehearsed for this performance. It needs lots of practice and attention. I had to learn acting and dancing. The students of Iman Sangeet Academy are practicing dance. This is making them unlearn and relearn. We brought a fantastic acting coach from Bombay, Sampriti.
How do you take care of your voice with so much happening?
It’s a very good question. I love to speak a lot. But for the last two months my voice pitch has become mellow. I also have to act so there are variations in the voice. Sometimes I have to speak loudly , sometimes I need to speak very low.
This is also your acting debut on stage…
I have acted in web series and film but on stage it’s my debut. But you know being a live performer I always prefer to sing live on stage rather than in a studio. When you are acting in front of a camera, the director can get the best of the shots and put it in a scene. But on live stage you have no retakes. Your mistakes and best performances are both seen by the audience. And we are doing everything live.
What would you say is one of the challenges that you face?
It is very unfortunate that today a class of audience is not willing to buy tickets for any musical shows. They always love to listen to music for free. This is a very bad practice. So, we the performers we have to engage our audience. This year there have been many musical concerts like Anupam Roy, Rupam Islam, Raghav Chatterjee . This is a challenge for us now. We perform in front of 40-50000 people but they attend on invitation. I will never do Tomake Dekhbo Bole on my own in Kolkata because it’s a huge production. The production cost is equivalent to a Bengali movie. This is not something I can do frequently. But the audience can help by buying tickets and come to witness the performance.
What are your plans with the performance after its Kolkata premiere?
We have a few shows lined up in Europe. We are going to Scotland first and then some more performances.
Tomake Dekhbo Bole premieres on March 22 and 23 at Nazrul Mancha Kolkata. Tickets available online.
Catch the full conversation on Indulge Podcast from March 21 7 pm onwards on Youtube.