Mancha Prabhakar Achyut Lahkar

(Today is the day of Adya Shraddha of the father of mobile theatre in Assam)

By Kishor Kumar Kalta

The man who had initiated a new model  in the art history of Assam  in the year 1963 by developing an indigenous form of theatre group, which was mobile in character and had the ability to provide livelihood opportunities to thousand of artists in the state, is no more. Achyut Lahkar, the doyen of mobile theater of Assam, that is commonly known as 'bhramyaman theatre', passed away on 12 June last after enduring health problems for a couple of years. This pioneer of mobile theatre received a few awards from state as well as from non-state institutions. In 1997, Achyut Lahkar was awarded the Kamal Kumari tiol award for his invaluable contributions towards the tion's cultural life. He was also the recipient of Atul Chandra Hazarika award in 2008 given by the Government of Assam for his outstanding contribution to the cultural history of Assam. The Mobile Theater Producer Association and the Bishnu Jyoti Silpi Samaj, Pathsala jointly conferred 'Mancha Prabhakar' to Achyut Lahkar in the year 2006 which was used as a prefix before his me till his death.  

Achyut Lahkar was born on July 9, 1931 in village Baga near Pathsala. His father was businessman Gaurikanta Lahkar, who owned a shop in the town, and his mother was Kantipriya Lahkar. Having done his primary education at Pathsala MV School, he passed his matriculation in 1949 from Bajali High School. His father passed away a month prior to the examition. For higher studies, he joined the commerce Stream of Saint Paul College, Kolkata. His association with the intellectual and cultural life of Kolkata brought about a qualitative change in his outlook. The first fruit of these changes in him appeared on June15, 1952. It was the illustrated magazine Dwipawali, edited and published by him from Kolkata. The publication of the famous magazine Awahan, which was published from Kolkata, was stopped. Therefore, he decided to edit and publish Dwipawali following in the footsteps of Awahan, edited by Dith Sarma, the glorious son of Assam hailing from Pathsala. In the meantime, domestic burden too fell heavily upon his head and publication of Dwipawali had to be stopped.

After the closure of Dwipawali, Achyut Lahkar returned to Pathsala. He passed IA as a private candidate from Bajali College. Then he went to Kolkata again to do his BA which he could not complete because of domestic compulsions. Meanwhile, his younger brother Sadanda Lahkar founded the taraj Opera, a traditiol popular dramatic form known as jatra origited in West Bengal. This group travelled throughout the whole lower Assam region and performed dramas even in some places of Upper Assam where it earned huge popularity in the tea gardens. taraj Opera turned full-fledged mobility in the year 1962 and its theatrical journey touched almost all rural and semi urban centers of Assam. This journey continued till the year 1962 without any interruption. In that sense Sada Lahkar invented a new way of theatre mobility across the state to entertain both rural and urban people. Recognizing his brother Sadanda as the real pioneer of mobile theater, Achyut Lahkar in an interview with this author in 2005 said -"So, taraj Opera would not have been born if our teachers Dharanidhar Goswami and Bhrigupatu Dutta had not motivated and inspired Sada Lahkar, and if my brother Sada had not opened taraj, then I would not have ever acted in theatre. Whenever we espouse bhramyaman and people praise me, I think we should also remember my brother Sada Lahkar".

After his return from Kolkata, Achyut Lahkar wished to change taraj Opera, incorporating the latest techniques. The Lahkar brothers also felt  that the small theatres halls of the towns  and semi urban  areas were not able to cope with the surging enthusiasm of the theatre going public, particularly in rural areas - which is why they hit upon  a novel plan of having plays ected  under big tents  pitched in wide open spaces, like the big top of circus parties. Thus commercial theatre was first organized in the village Pathsala and not in any town. As a result, mobile taraj Theatre was born. That was on October 2, 1963. Achyut Lahkar revealed about the excitement of this avant-garde inventiveness - "For various reasons I concluded at that time that 'jatra' was actually a form of mobile theatre. These used to travel wherever they wanted and were indispensable in villages during marriages, feasts and meetings etc. When I was in Kolkata and here in Assam, I used to travel around enjoying stage performances in various places. Watching drama in Bhaskar Mancha in Guwahati and Ban Manch in Tezpur I often thought that theatre here is much more developed than operas prevalent in Bengal. One of the characteristics of theatre here was that women played roles of women unlike in jatra or opera. One thought often started crossing my mind as to whether theatre can be made mobile like jatra or opera. At that time, theatre was not prevalent in Assam unlike Calcutta or Bombay. I wanted to be the first to make theatre mobile and give shape to bhramyaman. "

        During the successful days of taraj Theatre, Lahkar initiated some revolutiory ideas in respect of stage craft and in presentation. In the year of 1966-67, he developed the theatre-scope and then after in 1968-69, cine-theatre process was introduced in taraj. He also tried to introduce three stages in 1970-71, but it could not last. taraj Theatre is the first Assamese professiol theatre group that extensively toured different parts of this country and performed regular shows in those places. The theatre group travelled across Cachar and some places of Uttar Banga (the northern part of present West Bengal) and presented Bangla drama there (1978-79). In the year 1979-80, the theatre group made a history by performing Assamese plays in Cachar  and Uttar Banga. Filly in 1990, Achyut Lahkar experienced a kind of rounded stage or Alsom in stage and it got a little appreciation from audiences.

          taraj was eventually closed down in 2003. Lahkar was uble to mage the group owing to failing health and taraj started to incur heavy loss. He reportedly sold the group's lights, projectors, vehicles, furniture and costumes for a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh only. Recalling these unfortute happenings, Lahkar lamented before this author: "I would never have imagined that things that needed to be kept in museums as symbols and memories of the first bhramyaman theatre troupe would be sold in a bazaar. Now there is no tangible sign of taraj Theatre left. I too have to look towards others for my treatment, even for my daily need.," Though a number of awards were conferred upon Achyut Lahkar, his contribution has never been considered for tiol honor like Padmashree or Sangeet tak Academy award. As this doyen has not received any tiol recognition during his life time, the newly formed Assam government should consider introducing a new award in his remembrance, thereby acknowledging his immense contribution to the cultural history of Assam.

(The writer is a practicing Advocate in Gauhati High Court. )