CHAPTER 6 SHANKARSCOPE Image 80: Ravi Shankar wishing Uday Shankar on his 70th birthday. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Mohan Khokar has dismissed Shankarscope as merely a “diversion” in the maestro’s old age. But Shankar in the souvenir of Shankarscope, in 1970, wrote, “For the past 20 years or more I have been thinking of preparing a most unusual type of variety show which no one could ever imagine….due to acute financial stringency, I could not take up this project in hand earlier – although during the recent past some of the countries, I understand, have successfully come out with similar entertainments which I have never seen. Whatever it may be, I am now happy that my dream has come true at last. This is a unique variety show on the stage with the help of the film. It combines stage and screen together with magical effects, and is highly developed technically which I am sure will create a new channel for a great industry in this country.”1 Image 81: Bose greeting Shankar on his 70th birthday at the latter’s house on 38, Golf Club Road, where the celebrations were taking place. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose He also wrote in the same write-up, “From the very beginning of my artistic career, I never wanted to go on with mere repetitions, but always tried to produce something new and exclusive, strictly based on Indian traditions and culture.” Thus, for Shankar, the 1 Souvenir: Shankarscope, 1971 identity of being Indian, remained the foremost throughout his career. And as is evident from his productions during this period, as well as before, it was a celebration of the ethno-cultural diversity that India represented. As far as the title of the production was concerned, Uday Shankar wrote, “…my beloved friend, the distinguished journalist Royjee (Late Manashi Roy)…former Patrika columnist…after seeing my earlier creations of Shadow Play…remarked, “Well, Mr. Shankar, the show is unique, but you have probably made a mistake by not naming it ‘Shankarscope’.” That is why this production is titled Shankarscope.”2 Image 82: Shankar’s troupe members and other guests with Uday Shankar on his 70th birthday. The interviewees, Polly Guha is seated in the front row, extreme left, Sunanda Bose nee Sengupta seated in the same row, second from right, Jharna Dutta nee Basak, standing on the extreme right. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose 2 Ibid Once Shankar returned to India after the tour of 1968, he spent a few months in recuperation. Towards the beginning of 1970, he sent word to a few of his close associates that he wanted to embark on a new production. Bose, along with a few others gathered at his house on Golf Course Road. Shankar sat them down and described his novel idea of merging both the film and stage performance for this new production. The idea being that the show would create a visual illusion that characters from screen would come alive on stage. The assembled group were all at a loss, for it was beyond their comprehension as to how such a merging could be achieved. Image 83: Souvenir of Shankar Scope – the inside cover page. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose By this time, Shankar had already started working on the music of Shankarscope with his Music Director, Kamalesh Maitra, who not only composed the music, but also penned the lyrics for the introductory song. Maitra had also begun working on the lyrics of the other songs as well, with Gouri Prasanna Mazumdar. Mazumdar also penned the dialogues used in the item ‘Eternal Song’. Shankar had also begun discussing his plans in detail with cinematographer, Mahindra Kumar, as this was to be a unique film which would require extreme synchronization for the scenes which would combine both film as well as live performances on stage. Image 84: Shankar and Bose, scouting locations in Diamond Harbour, Kolkata, for the shooting of Shankarscope in 1970. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Although the dancers did not have much of a role to play during this period, none the less as Shankar’s Ballet Master, Bose was present for these sessions along with a few other members, to better understand what Shankar had envisaged. Image 85: The lyrics from the songs used in Shankarscope from the 1970 souvenir. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Shankar had always been fascinated by magic and the art of illusion. His fascination with this had probably developed from the days he spent in Ambika Charan’s darkroom, developing the photographs he had shot. His shadow plays on Ramayana and Life of Buddha3 is also a testimony to the same. His use of light and shadow is also evident in his film Kalpana, which even a young Satyajit Ray watched innumerable times when it was showcased in Kolkata.4After his shadow plays during his Almora days, subsequently Kalpana, this was probably the first time he could give reign to his dreams with the help of advanced technology and of course the financial support of Ranjit Mull Kankaria. Ranjit Mull Kankaria, was a noted film producer and distributor, who was to present the production. Like the rest of the troupe, he too was confounded by Shankar’s concept and found it difficult to comprehend how the merging of the stage and the screen could be used for any performance. 3 Fernau Hall, "Honoring Uday Shankar," Dance Chronicle 7, no. 3 (1984): 326-44, accessed July 9, 2017, url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567655 4 Ibid Image 86: A note from Ranjit Mull Kankaria in the souvenir of Samanya Kshati. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose After a few days, to help his associates understand what exactly he had on mind, Shankar displayed his hand made three-dimensional model of about 2 feet in length, 1 foot in height and one and a half feet in depth. He had made this model using boxes of various sizes, including matchboxes, all set on a tray. Given below is an illustration of how the stage was set up to make this merging technically possible. Image 87: A rough hand drawn sketch of the stage and screen for Shankarscope by Bose himself. The alphabetical key in red key has been added digitally by the researcher on the sketch to help identify the sections being described Key for the picture: A – Audience B – Stage C – Black Curtain covering a cuboid shaped cage like structure D – Overlapping flap used as entrance and exit by dancers, which was not visible to the audience E – A Platform, of about 4 feet in width, on top of C where the dancers would stand, ready for their entrance through point G F – White projection screen comprising 8 overlapping flaps encased in a frame of aluminum piping, suspended on three suspenders, which could lower and raise the screen as necessary G – Entrance point for dancers on the platform H - A staircase with 8 steps which would lead the dancer to the stage There was also a staircase behind the cage like cuboid structure, to enable the artists to climb up to the platform E. As far as the technical aspect was concerned, the merging of the screen characters with the same characters in life on stage was achieved by gently diminishing the size of the character on screen in the film, to the actual height of the person in real life. The character on screen would move to the right-hand side of the screen towards the point G. Through careful synchronization, not only was the height matched, but a simultaneous switching off of the screen projection and the switching on of a dim light at entrance point G would make it appear as if the character had suddenly come alive on stage. The performer would then use the 8 steps − which were wide enough to allow a single person to move comfortably – to come down on stage and perform their item. This was the technique that was used for all the items except for the item Beauty Competition. How this item was different, has been discussed below. Image 88: The page with the sequence of items showcased in Shankarscope before the interval as per the 1970 souvenir. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose The first item performed in Shankarscope, was based on the title song ‘Scope Scope Shankarscope’, where all the dancers used to perform together on stage. The lyrics and music of this introductory song was written by Shankar’s music director, Kamalesh Maitra. Like many of Shankar’s works, most of the items in Shankarscope were a commentary on the existing socio-economic political scenario. Some were a spoof, some a satire and others a mockery. So, despite providing a good deal of humour, they also provided food for thought on many a social norm. This introductory song was like a call to a ‘tamasha’, which held at fun fairs in rural, semi-urban areas, usually has a variety of items being performed. This song gave a glimpse through lyrics the items and issues that would be presented and focused on in Shankarscope. Image 89: A click from the wings during the introductory song of Shankarscope, “Scope Scope Shankarscope” – the lyrics “jumping jumping” in the last verse of the song. The central figure on the stage is that of Bose. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Image 90: A frontal view of the same moment from Shankarscope mentioned in the above image. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose Various clips from the film Kalpana were included in Shankarscope.