Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Since his students days in IIT, Kharagpur, Sudipta Bhawmik had enjoyed writing scripts for Bengali plays, directing and even acting in them, alongside pursuing a degree in electrical engineering.
That was some 40-years ago.
After his graduation he worked for some time in IIT before moving to the United States in search of a better career prospects. He fulfilled that dream, but one thing that has remained constant in his life alongside profession is his avid interest in the arts, especially in drama and stage-play.
The latest example of his love for the arts came recently when the 58-year-old semiconductor design-engineer launched a program using internet podcasting technology to tell one of the oldest stories in the world, the Mahabharata. The stories are presented in English using a dramatic storytelling form with accompanying soundtrack.
So, is it not something like reinventing the wheel given that the stories of the Mahabharata that was produced for the small screen in the early 1980s by B R Chopra, and was reproduced as a modern tele-drama by Swastik Pictures in 2013?
The Bridgewater, New Jersey-based bilingual playwright gives an emphatic no as answer.
“I always thought that the Mahabharata is the greatest story ever told. The characters and the stories of the epic fascinated me. No character is the story is perfect and that makes it the greatest story of humanity. It has inspired artistes around the globe. Great theater director Peter Brook was inspired to do a play on the epic. The story never gets old,” Bhawmik said.
But that is not the only reason for launching the Mahabharata audio project.
Bhawmik, who has successfully produced/directed several acclaimed Bengali and English plays in New York area, said he started the project last year because he realized that the next generation is missing out on this great epic. “I thought, if this story is presented to them in a format they are familiar with they might enjoy and appreciate the richness of their cultural heritage. The English language translations of the text are too archaic and do not interest young Indian-Americans growing up in the United States and elsewhere in the world,” he said.
Bhawmik received formal training in theatrical arts in Calcutta under the tutelage of legendary theater workers and playwrights like Shombhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra, and was attracted to stage play at an early age.
He noted that in the older video productions, some interpretations have religious bias while some video productions are overly gaudy for modern taste and that the language is also a barrier. “Besides young people don’t want to invest their time in reading such a huge text. But an audio presentation of the epic in short episodic form is something that they can spend their time on,” Bhawmik, the writer, director and story-teller of Mahabharata, said.
“The new generation, the Millennial, need to know the stories of the Mahabharata. Most Gen-Xers of Indian origin have grown up with these stories. They have read the books or watched the televised versions. The Millennial don’t have the time to read the books or watch television serials. They prefer a medium that is portable, mobile, and accessible anywhere, anytime. Podcasting is the technology that meets their needs. They can fast download the episodes on their smart phones or iPods using Wi-Fi or 4G wireless, and listen at their convenience – during their commute, jog, or workout,” he said.
“Audio allows them to multi-task— they can listen to it during their workout or during their commute by car or public transport. In fact, this is one of the key reasons why podcasts are booming now,” Bhawmik told Desi Talk.
Bhawmik is not alone in the project. Avi Ziv, an electrical/audio engineer from Israel and a Hopewell NJ resident, who plays traditional acoustic music, is behind the project too, providing music and sound designing.
“Avi, who is my friend and colleague, has a special interest in mythology in general and has been curious to know more about the Mahabharata after hearing some of the stories from me,” Bhawmik said
The audio drama is also broadcast on EBC Radio on the first, third and fifth Saturdays of the month. So far, the podcast has listeners signed up from Nepal, Indonesia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and other places, Bhawmik said, adding that it’s free of charge.
The post Engineers Turned Art-lovers Launch Mahabharata Podcast appeared first on News India Times.