Takht, a youth cultural forum formed by Suhena and Sukanya Deb in 2014 is back with their latest production Devaa- based on Devdas, the famous novel written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and its adaptation by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The classic tale of love, heartbreak and endurance will be adapted into a new format with storytelling, dance and music, with as many as 20 performers on stage.
“It’s not a mere translation of the film. We have our own script, written by Rishi Pandey and we have also composed our own music pieces. We are trying to create our own parallel movement which is a combination of dance and drama, but not in the traditional form with which we usually associate it. Although we are using Bhansali’s soundscape, we have taken away all the grandeur and focusing on the language and the execution of the performance, which is going to justify the story,” says Sangram Mukhopadhyay, the director who is also a CA aspirant.
“We decided to tackle a very common story which resonates with a lot of people. We have taken away the main charachters Devdas, Paro and Chandramukhi and the story will be narrated by the marginal characters, who convey, how their presence caused the separation or coming together of Devdas and Paro,” he adds.
Devaa is the fifth production by Takht, the youth group which started off with the intention to continue pursuing their chosen stream of performing arts, alongside their main professions. “Takht envisioned a renaissance, a leap of faith into a new horizon, while embracing the roots. Initially a platform which catered to the artistic energies of a bunch of young dance enthusiasts, Takht has evolved as one of the well recognised and sought after cultural forums of the city,” says Sukanya Deb, co-founder of the group and a final year engineering student. The group has staged four more productions since 2014, such as Rang, Saanjh, EkNavya and Uttiyo.
The sound mixing has been done by E flat Studio and the choreography will have a combination of more than a single style of dance form, such as, Indian classical, contemporary, hip hop and Bollywood.
Takht presents Devaa, a storytelling performance set to premier at Uttam Mancha on February 10 at 6:30 pm