April 14, 2026 10:01 pm (IST)
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Kolkata production pays tribute to female impersonators on stage
Kolkata, Apr 22 (IBNS):A theatre production in Kolkata is paying a tribute to an era when female characters were impersonated by the male actors on the stage, either due to lack of female artists or may be social ostracism.
Arts personality Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, in collaboration with Future Media School, Future Footprints, recently staged Obhijatra at ICCR, reflecting the journey of a generation of artists who challenged their gender and converted it into a performance to give it a broader spectrum of art.
Talking to IBNS, Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee said: “This event is being organized to pay a tribute to those legendary male actors who impersonated themselves as female characters and flourished wonderful art forms. But it has often been noted that because of their inbuilt androgyny, they have been criticized or teased but it is wrong, they also lead a hetero normative life with their wife and children.”
He said: “Also on 28th April we will be presenting a stage craft where I will be acting as Lady Macbeth, Sohini Sengupta as Shylock and a performance by the popular theater group Shriek of Silence.”
The event witnessed felicitation of two legendary female impersonators Janardhan Nandi and Chapal Bhaduri.
Janardhan Nandi, known as Janardhan Rani, told the gathering that it was his great luck to impersonate the character of Kali in the play Ramprasad. Initially in his journey to jatra or theatre, he was a singer then a child artist, then a female artist and at the end he moved out to be a comedian.
Chapal Bhaduri, remembered as Chapal Rani said that although he had acted in many jatras and theatres, his most favourite had been Bidhayak Bhattacharya’s Michael Madhusudan Dutta, where he became the mother of Michael. He even acted a part of a small scene from the play and entertained the audience.
Scholar Vocalist Debjit Bandopadhay described the History of Theatre, by choosing two major states of India, West Bengal and Maharastra.
According to him, in Bengal the enrichment of drama and theatre has remained in an admirable phase always. Besides talking about the history, he even sang a few songs, to give the spectators a flavour of that era of female impersonation.
The event also witnessed screening of the film Chena Kintu Ojana by Dipankar Datta, researched, written and produced by Debojeet Majumder.
The film focused on the last generation of female impersonators of jatra. Presenting an insight into the lives and times of jatra’s most iconic performers ever, Ranis, as they have been titled, have been documented holistically.
“Gender fluidity, queer arts should be talked about more openly today and the journey has just begun for me by revisiting theses queens” said curator Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee.
Mousumi Ghosh, Founder, Trustee, Director Team Future, said: “Future Media School believes in connecting arts through heritage and this project is a step ahead to leave those footprints."
The entrance of the gate of ICCR held a stage for live make-up session for impersonators, which had set the mood for the evening.
(Reporting by Aninnya Sarkar)
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