INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH
Hiralal Sen
Teacher (Retd)

Question : You have become virtually a cult figure in Tripura's theatre , music  and cultural world. How did it all begin ?

Answer : I was born in the year 1932 at Batisa village in comilla district of present Bangladesh in an atmosphere of culture. My own father late Kumud Bihari Sengupta himself was an actor in folk theatre and very often he would go to far off villages to act in dramas . There was also a nationalist fervour in our village in those days because both the 'Jugantar' and 'Anushilon' revolutionary groups were very active . Singing patriotic songs was a must in any cultural programme and as a boy with impressionable mind I was easily influenced. I was persuaded by my teacher of the village school Mr Brajendra Gupta to do a small role in Dwijendra lal Roy's celebrated drama 'Chandragupta'. I did this successfully and the stage-fright went off . My interest in music grew as I saw my mother sing devotional songs at home .

Question : How was the next stage in your development as dramatist, director and composer ? Who all influenced you ?

Answer : I was not at all a good student but ultimately I managed to pass matriculation by appearing as a private student. But I was lucky to be a student of Comilla's victorial college where there were constant cultural activities like drama, musical programmes , literary conferences etc . Before getting admitted to the college I had come in contact with such giants as Kumar Sachin Debbarman , Kaji Nazrul Islam , actors Kanu Banerjee, Nripati Chatterjee and director Sushil Mazumder. During college days I was a  regular in the drama group and gradually came under the influence of the communist party and Marxism. As a college student also I acted in film entiled 'Samghat' (confrontation) in Dhaka and at that stage I was also member of a drama group called 'Neermal theatre group'. This however partially interfered with my progress in studies though finally I graduated in the year 1956. I was having a tough time after leaving college because the martial law administration of Iskander Mirza set its police upon me as a communist sympathiser and finally I left home for ever in the year 1962 and came to Tripura.

Question : What do you think is your greatest contribution to the cultural world of Tripura , particularly in the sphere of drama and music ?

Answer : Well, how do I certify myself ? But to tell you the facts , within a year of coming to Tripura I got a teacher's job in the local "Prachya Bharati High school' and at the same time floated a cultural organisation under the banner of 'Samskriti Parishad'.We started staging dramas with myself as director and music composer .The dramas that I had directed became very popular though I have actually written very few but my music has always earned kudos. I can of course claim to be the pioneer in the sphere of peoples theatre in Tripura . Before 1967 nobody in Tripura believed that dramas could be staged in street-corners but I successfully introduced this . To raise fund for famine-affected tribal people in remote Chhawmanu area we staged a number of street dramas and collected Rs 3 thousand-not a small amount- in 1967.The street dramas and the peoples theatre movement became very popular in different parts of Tripura and on occasions I have organised street dramas in rural areas with three hurricanes or torches as only source of light . As the secretary of the 'Ganatantrik Lekhok Shilpi Sangha' (democratic union of writers and artists ) for fifteen years form 1981 to 1996 I took the cultural movement to remote corners of Tripura . As regards music I have set tunes for more than four hundred songs but I think my real success lies in setting tunes for poems written by late Sukanto Bhattacharya , only great composer Salil Chowdhury had done a few earlier.

Question : what about the cultural scene now in Tripura ? Do not you think the invasion of westernisation is telling upon traditional culture of the state in all spheres ?

Answer : It is true that western influence is growing in every sphere but in the age of globalisation this can possibly be helped . What is important is commitment and solid ideological position which help to retain originality . With an ideology you can pick and choose what you like and regard as suitable and go to the people who are the ultimate judges . When we were directing dramas and  composing music  there was not even a public hall at Agartala and the technology was also backward . But now you have so many facilities but still people complain of declining qualities . An artist should always aim at originality . But my main worry is the widening cultural gap between the tribal and non-tribal commnities who have to co-exist here .

Question : Why has it been so ? What do you think should be done to close the gap ?

Answer : Honestly speaking we all are responsible for this as the cultural gap is a spill-over effect of the ethnic divide. The rulers of Tripura in the fifties and sixties failed to foresee that tribals were a separate group of people with distinctive culture , identity and tradition and they would also emerge as a full-grown nationality . We are only paying the price . Personally I deeply regret now why I did not care to learn the 'Kokborok' language which could have enabled me to expand my works of art . But probably our cultural snobbery and superiority complex stood in the way though there was no scope to learn 'Kokborok' at Agartala where I have been settled for more than four decades now . But I am trying to make up for the lost time to set in motion a process of cultural synthesis.

Question : How do you propose to make up for the lost time at this age and precisely what do you mean by cultural synthesis ?

Answer : There is a saying-better late than never . I have already started learning kokborok from tribal students who live near my house and you will be glad to know that even at this time of ethnic mistrust and division a group of twenty tribal students approached me to become director of their drama group called 'Tapang Hukumu Buthuk' . At their request I have composed a drama for them in Bengali on the problem of dowry system and Asi Debbarma , a college student and activist of the group , has translated this into 'Kokborok' with the title 'Tabukdi' (even now). They are acting it now in different parts of the hilly areas and I hasve given them my word that I will compose and direct more dramas for them . I am learning a lot daily , specially in 'Kokborok' language. On the second point-that is, cultural synthesis , I only mean close interaction and the process of give and take by it . I certainly do no mean that by a process of synthesis the tribals and non-tribals should forsake their distincitive and orginal culture . The synthesis lies in exchange and adoption of new ideas such as setting tunes for highly tonal songs in 'Kokborok' which I am doing now . I have already collected fifty one 'kokborok' songs to which I will set the tune with my instruments .

Question : How do you visualise Tripura of the  future ? Do you really believe that tribals and non-tribals can co-exist here ?