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Bidyut Kumar Nath’s earliest reminiscences of rising up in Assam’s Nonoi village are of the panic that crammed the adults when it rained continually. The Kopili and Sampawati rivers would overflow, the little streams that lined the hills would swell and all of the water would wash into the village.
“The remainder of India would see us on tv, as we cowered on our rooftops for shelter. Throughout floods, folks would now not have properties as they have been swept away, the fields have been inundated and the cattle had no grass to eat. Because the lifeless couldn’t be cremated, they have been tied to banana bushes and solid within the water,” says Nath, 36.
In August 2022, whereas resting at dwelling after a theatre workshop, Nath was struck by a narrative thought about an Assam village the place a devastating flood leads to the dying of the protagonist’s younger daughter. As quickly as the thought struck him, Nath requested his spouse Jutrishna Gohain, a theatre performer and a Bihu and fashionable dancer, to write down the story down. This is able to develop into Nath’s first authentic theatre script. The play was named Raghunath, after the protagonist. Gohain was solid as Ragunath’s spouse, Janaki.
On March 21, Raghunath swept one in all India’s prime theatre competitions, profitable six of the 13 classes on the Mahindra Excellence of Theatre Awards (META). The awards have been for Finest Manufacturing, Finest Director, Finest Authentic Script, Finest Male Actor, Finest Mild Design and Finest Stage Design. 4 of those six awards, together with Finest Male Actor, have been for Nath alone.
Within the play, the grieving Raghunath comes up with a daring plan involving blind religion in faith with a view to draw authorities consideration to the village. “His purpose is to make sure that no different baby within the village ever drowns as a result of lack of a bridge,” says Nath.
After Nath considered the story of Raghunath, he determined to attempt to put it on stage. Since there was no cash to make a play, he turned to crowdfunding. “I wrote on Fb that I wanted cash to make a play. In just a few hours, there was a donor who supplied Rs 10,000. The second donor had Rs 4,000 to present. Then got here Rs 2,000, Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100 from folks throughout the state. We collected Rs 40,000 and staged the play in August 2022,” he says.
The play unfolds on a stage dominated by a bamboo construction, with human actors accompanied by a puppet. By stylised actions, the performers deliver alive a father or mother’s love for his baby and the disaster confronted by the villagers. “We didn’t begin out to make a distinction to the entire broad world however to inform a narrative of people who find themselves weak to pure disasters and authorities apathy,” Nath tells The Indian Specific.
Assam has a vibrant theatre tradition that features cell theatre firms stopping by villages and cities. Within the final decade, theatre has unfold to areas like cleared paddy fields, forests and dwelling rooms. Nath was an imaginative baby, who would keep misplaced in storybooks and college theatre with mates who have been additionally like him.
He was launched to theatre by his father, a bansuri participant and a very good cook dinner who struggled to earn a dwelling by working a small store within the village. “My uncle, Prashant Nath, was a widely known theatre actor. From the time I used to be in Class 4, he was my hero.”
Nath’s expertise was noticed early on, by native teams and visiting theatre performers, such because the late Prabin Saikia, Biplab Jyoti Bhuyan and Nirumoni Bhuyan. They solid him in roles, such because the gardener in his first play and a fox in his second.
As a lot as he beloved it, Nath was pressured to surrender theatre. “After my father died, the household fell on dangerous instances. To make ends meet, I began giving dwelling tuitions whereas learning for my Class 12 board exams. Although I cleared ITI (Industrial Coaching Institute) Nagaon and determined to review Pc Working and Communication Programs there, I at all times felt that I wished to do one thing else. I even labored as a supervisor in a resort in Guwahati for 3 months,” he says.
In school, Nath continued to withstand the stage. “I don’t know what had occurred to me, besides that I used to be satisfied there was no cash within the theatre. I most well-liked to spend time in adda with mates, taking part in cricket or watching tv. A theatre director, Jyoti Prasad Bhuyan, was calling me continually to behave. By the point I went for auditions, the one half left within the play, Charandas Chor, was that of a drunk,” he says.
His efficiency in that small position was observed and it landed him one other name to play one other drunk, this time within the play Sankranti by theatre actor-director Rajen Phukan. In school, Nath and his fellow college students determined to create a play, Kareng Bypir Hahi, wherein he performed an evil king. Chosen for an inter-college competitors, Kareng Bypir Hahi swept the awards for Finest Actress, Finest Group and Finest Costume, however not Finest Actor. “That 12 months, they launched the Finest Villain class and gave it to me. That play was a turning level in my life,” says Nath.
Kareng Bypir Hahi would dominate theatre competitions within the state and usher in prize cash. Whereas Nath was profitable accolades, his mom was working in folks’s properties and as an agricultural labourer of their fields. She additionally labored as an ASHA employee and earned Rs 1,000 per thirty days. “Her earnings and mine have been sufficient for our household, which comprised my mom, my sister and me. After we couldn’t afford rice, my mom would borrow some from the neighbours. We used to go to the store with a bottle to get oil for Rs 10. Puffed rice got here for Rs 2. Within the evenings, we drank the starch water that was left over from cooking the rice,” recollects Nath.
In 2015, he was chosen for the Nationwide College of Drama (NSD) in Sikkim and shortly grew to become a well-recognized face on the Assamese stage as an actor who may deal with difficult roles.
Bipin Kumar, the pinnacle of Bhartendu Natya Academy in Lucknow, was the pinnacle of NSD Sikkim when Nath studied there. “He was a really hardworking and mental pupil. He wished to make new sorts of performs. Whereas he was great with visuals on stage, Bidyut was additionally a wonderful actor. He did A Midsummer Night time’s Dream at NSD. What set him aside was that he used to have a look at his personal works. Only a few actors can flip their inside eye on themselves. Bidyut may ask himself what he was doing and why, and he was continually growing himself. When he received the a number of METAs, he was very emotional. So was I. This boy had an urge to know. He used to ask me for time and I used to present him time to assist him study extra,” says Kumar.
On his theatre journey to date, Nath says, “I don’t wish to make huge performs with grand themes. I’m drawn to the small tales that we ignore in on a regular basis life. We don’t take into consideration the straightforward moments and barely spotlight them in artwork, but these are the experiences that enrich folks’s lives and encourage our humanity.”
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