On its 32nd day, Natrang’s International Theatre Talk Show featured Baharul Islam from Assam who is an eminent theatre and film actor/director and Senior NSD Graduate who enlightened the global audience with his ‘Vision of Theatre’. Director Natrang, Padmashri Balwant Thakur stated that this International Talk Show of Natrang has the credit to feature the most sought after theatre personalities of India and abroad who have received accolades for their wonderful work and have done tremendous contribution in the field of theatre and presence of such towering personalities at a single platform makes this Talk Show special and archival.
Introducing Shri Baharul Islam, Natrangs artist Vrinda Sharma informed that Baharul is an eminent Indian theater actor and director and alumnus of the National School of Drama. Baharul has acted in more than 80 plays and designed and directed 30 plays for his theater troupe Seagull. He is one of the busiest theatre artists in Assam. He started his career in the field of theatre in Assam and soon rose into prominence in India and abroad. In 1992-93 joined “TARA ART” of London as an actor for the production of the play Heer Ranjha. The play rehearsed in London and thereafter extensively toured the UK and Japan. Baharul learnt theatre music from the legends B V Karanth and Bhaskar Chandervakar. His first movie was an Aasene Kunuba Hiyat and latest was Rodor Sithi. He has four year experience in commercial mobile Theatre (Bhrayamaman) in Assam as an actor. He has performed in almost 1200 shows with 16 plays. Besides this, he has also written and published 4 books viz. Akanto Monere, Simar Sipare, Beyond the Obvious, Khiriki Khuliyei. For his contribution in theatre, Baharul has received numerous awards and prominent among them are Manohar Singh Award, Sanskriti Samman, Natyaprobor Award, Bishnu Basu Smriti Samman, Badal Sircar Rang Ratan Award, Harishankar Parsai Rashtriya Rang Samman, Habib Tanvir Ras Rang Samman, Natyaratna Ugra Mena Award and Natasurya Phani Sharma National Award.
In an enriching dialogue, Baharul made people aware about his modest journey of theatre. He also candidly disclosed that being a big fan of Mithun Chakraborty in his youth, he went to pursue training at NSD with a dream to become Mithun but till the completion of his course, he could realize that one has to find his/her own identity and started working on the call of his own inner voice. Baharul also understood that the training of an actor is not possible in isolation and an actor has to have the knowledge of different elements and departments of theatre such as lighting, music, make-up, set-designing etc. alongwith in-depth understanding of theory to be perfect in his/her task. A consistent practitioner and persistent learner, Baharul believes that there is no fixed notation of acting and an actor has to define it for him out of his experience, training and imagination with the vision to entertain/educate/connect with the audience. For him, discipline and dedication alongwith other qualities are very important for theatre practitioners. He has worked a lot with youth and also works with special children. He acknowledged the contribution of his gurus in shaping his vision of theatre. He asserts that theatre is an art which is not possible without an audience and also feels that theatre has no borders and it is beyond boundaries. Baharul very interestingly quoted that being an urban dweller, he possesses urban complexities in his personality. The works of Anton Chekhov have made such an indelible mark on his mind that he has named his group on one of Chekhov’s landmark creations, ‘Seagull’. Speaking about his style, Baharul asserts that, ‘I feel comfortable and capable in handling realism’. A self-motivated actor Baharul discreetly states that, ‘I have selected the field of theatre for myself and no one has forced me to do it’. Addressing those who underestimate the value of theatre and consider it a pass-time activity, Baharul responds that the training required to be an actor is much more immeasurable than any other professional training as an actor’s training is a continuous process and never completes. Observation, analysis and awareness are very important tools of an actor and this process is never ending.
Those who are coordinating this mega online event include Anil Tickoo, Neeraj Kant, Suresh Kumar, Sanjeev Gupta, Vikrant Sharma, Sumeet Sharma, Aarushi Thakur Rana, Mohd. Yaseen, Gauri Thakur, Rahul Singh and Vrinda Sharma.
