Manipur theatre gets a fresh lease of life

After 3 decades, Shumang leela council reproduces play for researchers, tourists, dignitaries & GenX

KHELEN THOKCHOM

A scene from the play, Eeyaithakki Thambal. A Telegraph picture Imphal, July 9: Shumang leela is dead, long live the Shumang leela. Manipur’s conventional theatre, dead for over 30 years, has received a new lease of life in Eshei leela (play with songs) because of the efforts of the Manipur Shumang Leela Council. For the second time in three decades, the council has re-produced successfully an original Shumang leela play with the objective of preserving the theatre for the benefit of researchers, foreign tourists and visiting dignitaries. The experiment started last year with the successful reproduction of Abir Khan, a popular play, encouraging the council to produce another form of Shumang leela. Produced during a 45-day-long Shumang leela workshop, an extension programme of the National School of Drama, Delhi, the council staged the latest reproduction at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Sanglen last week to a packed audience. The council chose Eeyaithakki Thambal (Lotus in mid water), one of the most popular plays in the eighties, for the reproduction. It depicts how a family can be ruined if the housewife is wicked, and was a trendsetter at that time. Laishram Kunjaraj and his troupe had then held 400 shows in every nook and corner of the state. Interestingly, the reproduction has four of the play’s original cast, including 82-year-old Kunjaraj, one of the finest comedians Manipur has produced. “I accepted the request to perform in the reproduction of the play as a mark of protest against the murder of conventional Manipuri Shumang leela,” Kunjaraj, who is also the director of the reproduction, said. The veteran artiste blamed new artistes who introduced Eishei leela for the death of the conventional theatre. “I stopped performing in Shumang leela in protest against Eishei leela. Today is the first time I am performing after I quit nearly 25 years ago and I am very happy (to be back),” Kunjaraj said. Shumang leela (courtyard theatre) emerged in 1918 after the then king banned Moirang Prava, another traditional theatre, in 1895 because it lampooned those in power. The first full-length Shumang leela, Harishchandra was staged in 1981. “The theatre instantly became a hit,” Loitongbam Dorendra, one of the supervisors of the workshop, said. Shumang leela is staged in the courtyard with the audience surrounding it. It has only a pung (traditional drum) and two mandiras for accompaniment. Eishei leela, the new theatre form, is replete with modern instruments like guitar, organ, electric drum and other wind and string instruments. Songs are an essential part of this genre. “The reproduction of a famous conventional plays, also known as “dialogue leela,” during the workshop was an attempt by the council to preserve conventional drama. The reproduction is meant for exhibition shows and for those researching in conventional play,” the workshop director and secretary of the council, Sougrakpam Hemanta, said. “Those born after mid-eighties do not know about our conventional plays. Now they can see it,” Nomita Khongbantabam, the co-ordinator of the workshop said.