Baishe Srabon: Dona Ganguly and Ananda Gupta pay tribute to Tagore on his death anniversary

It was Rabindranath Tagore’s 81st death anniversary on August 7 and Tagore enthusiasts from all across the world paid respect to the Nobel Laureate author through music, dance and performances. Noted Odissi dancer Dona Ganguly along with students of Dikshamanjari, Rabindra Sangeet exponent and Dakshinayan UK's key person Dr. Ananda Gupta presented the musical extravaganza ‘The Pangs of Pain’ at an auditorium in Delhi. Ananda took to his social media to share a photograph with the danseuse and her husband Sourav Ganguly after the event. 

While talking to OTTplay, Dona said, “Tagore dealt with a lot of pains and losses in his life. And some beautiful creations – songs, poems and short stories – were inspired purely by his losses. Those became classics. After two years of dealing with the pandemic, nearly all of us also faced a certain amount of losses. We thought Tagore would be our right inspiration in life.”

Elaborating on the show, Ananda said, “In fact, death is one of the biggest truths in life. Tagore’s songs exhibit this acceptance. We celebrated that vitality.” 

At the show, Ananda – a UK-based surgeon and musician – rendered Rabindrasangeet like Jiban Jakhan Sukaye Jay, Pathe Chole Jete Jete, Jakhan Parbe Na Mor Payer Chinha, Ke Jay Amritadham Jatri and several others. Dona made her appearance on songs like Ohey Jiban Ballabh, Tomay Gaan Shonabo, Amar Praner Pore Chole Gelo Ke. Music was arranged by Ananda while the show was choreographed by Dona. The rehearsals for the show took place at Dona’s Kolkata residence as both the leading performers landed in the city a few days back from London. 

Rabindranath’s encountered losses since childhood. While writing his memoirs in Jibansmriti, he described the moments of the last journey of his mother's death. Later, the passing away of his dearest bouthan – sister-in-law, the death of his children, and the death of close friends made his writing more intense. His songs capture the expression of a deep sense of life, showing the way of passage in our lives in many ways.