Vijaya Mehta, the eminent theatre practitioner who passed away recently, believed culture was like a forest pond and theatre needed conviction not ideology. Whatever one’s feminism or political ideology may be, but commitment to theatre has to be absolute. Culture remains elusive if the pursuit of excellence fails.
Purna Purusha, a play originally written in Hindi by Vijay Pandit and translated into Odia ably and sensitively by Zakir Khan was performed on 09 July 2026 at Bhanja Kala Mandap, Bhubaneswar.
Purna Purusha (The Complete Man) centres around Samagra (Susanta Routray), an accomplished painter who has remained engrossed in his creative sojourn but has fissures in his relationship with his partner Shashwati (Tilottama Sahoo) gnaws for a share of attention in their journey of togetherness. Both crave it but fail in their own way. Finally, as crevices surfaces two souls enter the ground. One an empathetic Astha (Namita Mishra) and another a worldly corroborator Atirek (Sambit Behera) who sneaks into the life of Samagra and Shaswati respectively. As life moves on, conflict sets in. But hollowness manifests at every twist and turn of life. Meanwhile, a glorious moment arrives by the form of announcement of Padma Shri Award to Samagra for his lifetime achievement, it appears, then, that Shawasti , overwhelmed with the success of Samagra , comes closer to him, basking in the glory for the moment. But whether Samagra relishes it or he still yearns for a visit to Herculaneum, ancient Roman resort town in Italy located at the base of Mount Vesuvious as confessed during his chat with Astha or seeks reunion with the echeleons of the like Van Gogh, Picasso, Dali, Rembrandt remains a thing of guess. Has he attained completeness of life by being a good paramour? Or is he an artist whose search still remains elusive, preventing him from becoming a complete man? Once he chooses to either of the lives. he crosses the Rubicon.
The play is directed by Surya Mohanty, an alumnus of National School of Drama and founder member of Mukti, a prominent theatre group of Bhubaneswar active since 1983.The director relies upon staccato rhythm in the narrative, so the revelation becomes more apparent. The cast of the play reaffirms their performance to the core of the script. The set design by Vijayant Dash is just and relevant to the tonal quality of the play. The sound design by Pratap Rout gives credence to the texture of the play. Bikash Pradhan, the Light designer uses the fundamentals to go along with the feeling of the narrative.
After the curtain call, Surya Mohanty, the director, while interacting with the audience, lamented about the inadequacies and poor infrastructure available at Bhanja Kala Mandap for staging a play. He exhorted to involve the experts in the field of theatre architecture for making it worthy of space for performance.
