Mukherjee

play the author has very ingeniously imagined certain characters, the introduction

of which has shed a Divine halo on the whole drama”. 23

Having an inspiration from ‘Pratapaditya’, Harisadhan Mukhopadhyay directed

a play, named ‘Aurangzeb’ where he tried to depict a uniform relation between

the Hindus and Muslims. One of the most important directors of that time was

Dwijendralal Roy. His play “Rana Pratap’ deserved special mention. 24

In fact, Khirodeprasad, D.L.Roy and Girish Chandra Ghosh were said to be the

trio of Swadeshi theatres. Girish Cahandra’s ‘Sirajuddowlla’and ‘Shivaji’ were

very important. In 1906, 26 th April, Surandranath Banerjee wrote “Shvaji was an

expression of the periodic efforts made by India at unification of her different

parts….. We honour him because he was the last exponent of the great and glorious

idea of a united India….. Chhatrapati was one of the best and most powerful

dramas ever produced on the Indian stage”.

Thus, from the last decade of the nineteenth century making of theatres became

profession than passion. The pioneer in the field was Girish Chandra Ghosh. His

plays were perfect juxtaposition of religious and social themes. He was followed

by Biharilal Chattopadhyay, Aparesh Chandra Mukhopadhyay, Amamrendranath

Dutta and others. Along with these themes there were many dramatists who based

their plays on the religious context and took their themes from the Gita , Puranas

and other traditional, mythological and religious scriptures like Rajkrishna Roy,

Mitilal Roy and others. 25

In the twentieth century, compositions stylization and presentations were more for

the masses where Ibsenian style were more reflected than Shakespearean style like

that of the style of Dwijendralal, Khirodeprasad and others.

ItwasRabindranathwhoopenedanewhorizoninthefieldofdrama.Sophistication,

modernization, romanticism and emotion with a touch of boldness and protestation

became the style of his dramatic presentation. It became more for the public tastes

and requirements though we can perceive a change in people’s thoughts and

vocabulary. After the World War II, theatrical performances were adopted for the

presentation social genre. Poverty, hunger, unemployment and different problems

were manifested. The diction is meant for the public and a new class division came

into the scene. It was not between the aristocracies and bhadraloks and lower

orders ( itorjan ) but between the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have-nots’- the ruler and the

ruled. 26

23 Ibid

24 Ibid

25 Ibid

26 Banerjee Sumanta, op.cit,. p.109-111

452