Home ›› 05 Aug 2021 ›› Show Biz
Momena Chowdhury has earned repute as an actress among the viewers owing to her high-octane performance on both television and stage. However, she is more known for her signature theatrical monodrama ‘Lal Jamin’. Till date, her theatre troupe Shunyan Repertory Theatre has completed 276 shows of the play in 61 districts across the country. In a recent interview with The Business Post, Momena Chowdhury shared every tiny details about her play ‘Lal Jamin’ and her other activities on stage.
Since coronavirus broke out in the country in March last year, the staging of theatre productions has come to a halt. When the government withdrew the strict restrictions on public movement for a limited period of time, Momena and her troupe, Shunyan Repertory Theatre, staged a total of 34 shows of their play ‘Lal Jamin’ from August 28, 2020 to March 27, 2021.
“Despite the advent of coronavirus, we staged 34 shows of the play so far since last year. We staged our first show of ‘Lal Jamin’ on August 28 when the government lifted the lockdown, almost five months after the announcement of first ever lockdown. It was the first show of any production by any troupe in the country after the lockdown. Over the course of time, we staged 34 shows of ‘Lal Jamin’ at different places, mostly on the premises of various Police Lines across the country. We also staged the play in some college campuses”, Momena said.
“Lal Jamin is based on the Liberation War of Bangladesh. The history of our Liberation War always inspires and motivates us. Likewise, our production ‘Lal Jamin’ inspire the people as well as motivate the people when they are in any dire situation, for example ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With the aim of encouraging the people and help them to overcome their fear, we tried to continue staging our play when we were allowed to do so. Fear cannot help us fight against the virus, rather proper awareness and appropriate health guidelines can help us to end this pandemic”, Momena said highlighting that their aim was to give courage and strength to the people by staging ‘Lal Jamin’ at different places of the country.
Momena informed that they were very careful about maintaining physical distance and followed all types of health guidelines during the shows. She added, “What we felt is social distancing is important, but physical distancing is more important to curve the spread of coronavirus. So, we planned to stage the show by maintaining physical distance properly. We carefully followed all types of health guidelines during our shows. As ‘Lal Jamin’ is a monodrama by a single artiste, I didn’t need to worry about physical distancing rules on the stage. Rather, we concentrated on the sitting arrangement of the audience. We made sure the audience were maintaining proper physical distance. In that case, we kept half the seats vacant in the auditoriums and venues where we staged our production.”
Momena feels that it provided them an opportunity to come out from the boredom. Besides, ‘Lal Jamin’ as a powerful document enlightens the young generation about the glorious history of Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
“Wherever we have staged ‘Lal Jamin’, we were overwhelmed by the response of the audiences. Almost all the venues were packed. Actually, people got bored while staying at home for a long time. They were looking for an occasion to come out. ‘Lal Jamin’ came as a respite for the audience. Meanwhile, ‘Lal Jamin’ gives people mental strength and it helps people to gain their confidence. ‘Lal Jamin’ is not a mere production to entertain the audience, rather it’s a powerful document to enlighten the young minds about the glorious history of our Liberation War”, she shared.
In the meantime, Momena involved herself in a street play titled ‘Mrityu Mrityu Khela’, the last play written by late veteran playwright Mannan Heera. The play is directed by Sajidur Rahman. The actress said about this play, “After ‘Lal Jamin’, we worked on another play titled ‘Mrityu Mrityu Khela’ and successfully staged it at different places. The play creates awareness against the rumours that sometimes lead to taking away lives across the country. We received enormous appreciation from the audience from all walks of life. Many requested us to stage the play all over the country to make people aware of the detrimental sides of spreading rumours.”
When asked about any of her wishes surrounding ‘Lal Jamin’ which is yet to be fulfilled, she replied, “Many of my dreams surrounding ‘Lal Jamin’ have already been fulfilled. Almost everyone has watched our play and appreciated our production. Even we staged ‘Lal Jamin’ at Bangabhaban in front of our honourable President Mohammad Abdul Hamid. There is still one person who is yet to watch our production. She is none other than my favourite personality – our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The day she will watch ‘Lal Jamin’, all my wishes centring this production will get fulfilled,” Momena concluded.
