Nellie back on centrestage - Activist to depict memories of pogrom in innovative play

(The Telegraph
June 15, 2007, )

It was a tragedy of epic proportions, which will now be chronicled for the world on the proscenium. Twenty-five years after Nellie - independent India's worst communal pogrom, which saw thousands being massacred in the sleepy hamlet of Assam on a single day - theatre director and activist Parnab Mukherjee is ready with an adaptation of that event for the stage.

Memories of the Bodies, based on the story of an orphan who lost his entire family during the carnage, is the fruit of three years of research by one of India‚s most well-known stage personalities. The play will debut in February next year, exactly 25 years after the gruesome incident shook the country. Mukherjee disclosed that the play is "a theatrical poem based on the true story of survival and struggles of an orphan, now a man 25 years old".

Aware that the subject he is handling is rather controversial, Mukherjee clarified that his work has nothing to do with politics. "It is the touching story of a man who lost his entire family when he was just a month old. I am an artist. I have nothing to do with politics. I tell stories related to the lives, struggles and survival of ordinary human beings," Mukherjee said over telephone from Calcutta.

The play is currently in its pre-production stage, disclosed the theatre activist, who has extensively portrayed issues centred around the region for nearly a decade now. Describing his forthcoming play as "a series of images", he added that "the play will be a large collage describing the events that lead to the massacre as well as its fallout". Apart from the usual flow of narrative, the play will also deploy a lot of photographs, installations and graphic works to make its images visually more stark and realistic. Visual designer Gautam Bagoria will handle the graphics for the play and sculptor Sanchayan Ghosh will design its installation works.

"I have collected a large number of photographs from different people during my 11 visits to Nellie," said Mukherjee. The main reason why Mukherjee has decided to highlight the struggles of the villagers who survived the massacre is because he wishes to draw the attention of the world community to the issue. "Nobody is bothered about the sufferings. Survivors are yet to be compensated. While victims and survivors of the 1984 Sikh riots have been compensated, nobody is talking about compensating the Nellie riot victims," said the activist.
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