Piyali Phukan in JEC by JEC 1985 passed out students and their families

PIYALI PHUKAN IN JEC It was an warm evening when we few friends of JEC 3rd year were taking tea in a makeshift stall outside the college gate. That was the place where most of the time we spent discussing about drama among other things. A breeding place of new ideas. By that time our hostel 6 drama team had earned some fame. Suddenly I shouted “Why not Piyali Phukan”. What a madness. Staging a full fledged historical mega drama like Piyali Phukan requires lot of skilled manpower and money. The project sounded impossible. But we did it. Things were too difficult but we made it possible. First job was to find out producer. Obvious choice was the cultural secretary Sri Anil Konwar. He was reluctant but could be roped in against a role in the play. As Director we wanted a amiable person could get our beloved Hostel Super Madhab Bora Sir. Through him we obtained permission from Principal Sashi Sarma Sir. Then we started searching actors. Both male & female. I was selected for the lead role of Piyali Phukan. Madhab Bora Sir agreed to play the role of Janmi, the elder brother of Piyali. Sri Uttam Bhagawati got Maniram Dewan. Krishnalal Sarma was selected as a Bengali peskar only because of his Bengal background. Dharmanada Das got the role of British Ruler. It was hard time to find out a man for playing the role of a Christian Father. After lot of research, we could spot our A M Peters Sir for this role. Lot of persuasion required to make him agree. Then our beloved Dilip Mishra was selected for the lead supporting role. It was so nice of Arup Bardalai Sir as he agreed for his little daughter playing the role of Piyali’s daughter. Most difficult stage was to find out actors for two female characters. i.e. one was Piyali’s Phukanani and another was a mythological character of a Dancer. JEC was not well populated with female students that time. Our choices were limited. We devised all sorts traps and could ultimately catch hold of two 1st year students , Arihana and Ajanta for these two roles. Ultimately the much awaited rehearsal started. After few days of rehearsal, suddenly the heaven fell on our heads. Some well wishers of JEC girls could convince these two budding actors that their internal assessments will be pretty bad if they continue acting. So they stopped coming for rehearsal. Ultimately Principal Sir came forward. Sir told the girls pointing at me “ Ask Pradip, did he ever get bad marks for acting ?” It was some sort of a magic. Arihana and Ajanta changed their minds and started coming for rehearsal. The most regular actor in the rehearsal was A M Peters Sir. It was herculean task to get proper dresses which we could collect from a shop at Jorhat. But we wanted a black sari for the Dancer and approached a lady in the campus whom we have seen in black sari several times. But to our utter dismay she refused. But seeing this another lady came forward and offered the black sari. In every step there were hurdles. But we could overcome each and every with support from the team. With lot of turbulence and uncertainty ultimately “ Piyali Phukan was staged in a jam-packed JEC auditorium with a whopping success. People from nearby villages also came and enjoyed the play. I still remember how the younger daughter of Sashi Sarma Sir was weeping when Dilip Mishra was killed and by British gunman and Piyali was hanged. Hiranya Sarma as music director and Pranab Goswami as prompter performed well.