BHOOMIKA

 ############################.          Ashok Kumar Mishra, S-128,                Maitri Vihar, Bhubaneswar  ##########################.              The noisy Loud speaker was echoing about the new play of Sankhashubhra Opera Troupe "Chhanchana nela suaku teki" (Eagle snatched away the parrot) and about its chulbuli hot and bold actress Munni, who is the cynosure of this play. Double shows every night, during last seven nights were staged, yet there was a long serpentine queue in front of the advance booking counter. Huge hoardings of Munni stood tall in every square of the city besides continuous advertisement in OTT platform, display of posters on every strategic street walls, review of her performance in all leading newspapers, and her bold performance has become a topic of discussion in every nukkad tea stalls. Munni does not care about all the gossips about her. She says people look for blemishes even in the moon and those having name and fame only get defamed. Actor’s job is to act and to give pleasure to the audience and it is the job of the critics to criticise. Each one’s job is defined differently. Munni is the queen of the stage, the empress of audience's heart . Munni's sublime presence has intoxicating effect on the audience, as soon as she crosses the green room and keeps her steps on the stage, like a butterfly moving among flowers. She gets buried with a huge applause. The delusion of mirage she creates around her acting, takes the audience to a different world. The public forget, for a moment reality of their existence and the usual pains of the daily grind of their mundane life. Life looks bright under colourful stage lights. Professional actress Munni’s dialogue delivery and superb modulation sets the stage on fire. When Munni moves around the stage with her super duper dancing numbers, the eyes of the audience forget to blink. Munni's magical acting skill is very unique and creates an ethereal world for the audience. On some day her royal gait as princess of Kashi, on another day Tulsi like cultured veiled daughter-in-law or as queen pimp’s favourite dancing girl, college beauty or mafia queen, she reigns supreme on the stage. No sooner she sets her feet on the stage, Munni forgets her mundane existence and sinks in and blends with the character. Whether the artificial love appeal of the Hero, coated with sweet lies, when his arms embrace her or co- actor’s false glycerine soaked tears, excited high pitched dialogue, all have become very common. She sometimes feels that life is a sum total of many such dramas.                  

Co-stars have started crowding the green room. Munni is not feeling well and there is lack of enthusiasm on her part. Something is bothering her. She has not stepped into this profession by choice. She feels she was born to act and does not imagine her world outside acting. Maa Nalini was a successful professional actress of her time. Love of acting dragged her mother to the world of theatre. During her acting career, she fell in love with Alok, who was a renowned front line artist of his time. Alok worked outside the theatre for cine-advertising and modeling. Nalini and Alok had seen many dreams together, after getting married to each other. But ambitious Alok’s luxurious lifestyle always used to cross the perimeters of his income. He used to spend major part of his income in drinking and smoking. He opined that cigarettes and liquor help to strengthen his acting. Slowly that became the reason for family feud, which took the form of family violence, after birth of Munni. Every night Alok abused and tortured Nalini and this soon crossed all limits. After three years of marriage, Hemant Sarkar, the owner of a Yatra company, takes away Nalini with him putting vermilion on her forehead, along with two-year-old Munni. Hemant used to bestow her love on little Munni who used to call Hemant “Baba”. Besides her studies, Dance master used to come and teach dancing to Munni. Hemant’s harem was full with many actresses. He used to take care of everyone but Nalini was special. Soon, Nalini became the lead heroine of the Yatra company. With support of Hemant, Munni first became a child artist and gradually transformed to a dancing star. Everything was fine until Baba Hemant was alright. His tireless hard work, management capability and sensitivity have brought her Yatra company so much business success. But diagnosis of blood cancer of Hemant came exactly at the time, when there was steep fall in company’s business. Many lead artists started leaving. Hemant’s sons were useless and were drowned in alcohol and heroin. The treatment expenses were just too heavy for Hemant. Downfall of Hemant and Yatra company forced Munni and Nalini to look for other sources of livelihood. Wandering from one troupe to another finally they landed in Sankhashubhra.          

“You have not yet been ready with your make-up for so long today?" You always get ready early, what happened today? Pinky asked Munni. She only remained silent saying “ nothing like that “. A mountain of suppressed anxieties and unspoken pain made her breathless. To whom will she go and share her mind. Who is there to lend support? She experiences artificiality in every relationship. Nalini is getting older. The taste of the audience is changing with changing times. Her acting is no longer able to attract the audience. Now very rarely Nalini gets a role. She has developed hearing impediment with growing age and is not able to know when the co-star has finished his dialogue. Earlier she never felt about the necessity of having her own house as the troupe was always on the move. Now Nalini has no roof upon her head. Munni took a small house on rent, for her mother. Nalini all day long stares at the salt - soaked walls and try to ruminate her past. Then she waits for Munni through out the night.                  

 Pinky came back and reminded "You have been sitting here since so long. Will you not be going to the stage today?”   The message has now gone to the director's ears that Munni has not taken make-up yet. Since her teenage her body has attracted attention of many lovers. Many have fallen prey to her charm. Munni is watching everywhere endless hunger and thirst for her body, burning like forest fire. Everywhere she has smelled artificiality like paper flowers and broken promises of love. As if so many vultures are waiting for an opportunity to snatch her. Munni feels whether she will be able to do justice to her role. Whether she can properly perform tonight. In her feeling of helplessness she decides today she will shed all artificiality and turn to her soulmate actor Ballabh, and tell him that her love is not artificial like sword fights, not fake like smiles or tears they display in the play. When Ballav embrace her in his arms on stage and keeps delivering his dialogues, she desires Ballabh take her closer and she feels like staring at Ballabh’s face. Munni felt like Nalini of eighteen years ago inside her. Won't Ballav become another Alok?                      

  Director has sent message to find out whether Munni's makeup ready or not? The opening instrumental music for the show was playing in the background. Munni enters the makeup room in a hurry and was ready by the time the director arrives. But Munni feels as if the distance from the green room to the stage has suddenly become longer, the coloured lights are fading and her feet are getting heavier, her head is spinning and the earth under her feet are moving. Ballabh came and asked "Are you ready?" A little "yes" with a nod came out of her. and The next moment they both were on the stage. Munni froze for a moment, and in the next second, there was a fluent flow of her dialogue. There was thunderous clapping from audience. Munni tried to think whether the audience shows their agreement with the philosophy of the playwright or appreciated the wholesome entertainment of the play or was it for her acting skills.

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