Bidhayak Bhattacharya's ‘Michael Madhusudan’ : A survey/ বিধায়ক ভট্টাচার্যের ‘মাইকেল মধুসূদন’ : একটি সমীক্ষা

Abstract

In the twentieth century, despite being involved in writing plays for the Bangaranga stage, screenplays for films, and music, the one who took up the pen for Jatra and is world-famous as a successful Jatra writer is Baglaranjan alias Bidhayak Bhattacharya. As a stage director, he wrote 'Michael Madhusudan' and 'Rashtra Biplab' for the Nabaranjan opera; at the request of Panchu Sen, he wrote 'Bhakt Bhairav' based on the biography of Girish Chandra; he wrote 'Nati Binodini' for Ketki Dutta; He wrote many more Jatrapalas and gifted them to us. Among them, 'Michael Madhusudan' is one of the greatest Jatrapalas of that time. Based on the main events in the life of Madhusudan Dutta, Banful wrote 'Shri Madhusudan'. He probably drew inspiration from this book 'Srimadhusudan' and wrote 'Michael Madhusudan' based on his own experiences. He named this turn 'Michael Madhusudan' after the central character. The person at whose special request he wrote the 'Michael Madhusudan' Jatrapala for the Navranjan Opera is Jatrasamrat Swapan Kumar. Through the journey of holding Swapan Kumar's hand, Michael Madhusudan reached a wider audience beyond the educated and illiterate, and Swapan Kumar also reached the pinnacle of fame. And it was this 'Michael Madhusudan' that earned him the high honor of being a Jatrapala writer. However, Madhusudan had also worked with actors in theater, film, and Jatra even before that. However, the Bidhayak-Madhusudan-Swapankumar duo emerged as the best of all time. In other words, apart from Bidhayak, the Bangaranga stage can be said to be almost empty.

              The story revolves around the main events of Madhusudan's life from the age of eighteen until his death. The story begins with the events two days after Madhusudan's conversion to Christianity. Rajnarayan Dutta is heartbroken that his only son has converted. Janhvi Devi fell ill from grief over her son. Marriage to Henrietta, separation from the family, father's second marriage, lack of money, malnutrition of the children, writing poetry, and drinking all made Michael delirious. After passing the bar, he became a barrister in the High Court. Vidyasagar came to visit the sick Madhusudan. The couple Madhusudan-Henrietta were on their deathbeds in Alipore Hospital. Henrietta died. Before his death, Madhusudan gifted a poem to Devaki and asked her to publish it. The famous poem is— Stand by the wayside, if you were born in Bengal! A moment of great joy!... With the impeccable writing skills of Bidhayak Bhattacharya and the unique acting style of Swapan Kumar, this turn became the best Jatra turn of all time.