The childless king is worried that who will be his heir. His elder queen does not have any child. And so, in the treason of the younger queen the king sent her in exile. She has to live in a rocky cave with a monkey. But the younger queen, too, has not delivered a child.

Suddenly, one day the monkey of the elder queen comes to beguile the king that her ‘mother’, the elder queen is carrying. The king, elated with joy, happily gets her back to the kingdom and announces a celebration.

The younger queen feels jealous. She takes the help of a witch and poisons the sweets which the elder queen is offered to eat. But the pet monkey manages to save her life. The king feels bad for the elder queen and tries to investigate the brains behind the case. The monkey tells him the names, and the king punishes both of the younger queen and the witch; but, himself gets down in depression.

The monkey finds the solution. He tell the king that the queen has delivered a beautiful baby boy, but he can not see him as the boy’s horoscope states that if the king sees his son’s face before his marriage the king might lose his eyesight.

So the king has to wait for another ten years before he can see his son’s face. Now the monkey has to hit upon another plan. He makes a doll out of Kheer or Khowa, an Indian product made from condensed milk, and then the cake doll is all set for marriage.

But Shasthi, the rural goddess of birth, eats the sweet doll along with her pet cats. Now the monkey chases her to provide a boy, otherwise he would make the stealth public. Then no one obeys Sasthi as the goddess. She, the, getting in deep trouble provides him with a 10 year boy from the dreamland. With that boy, satisfied, the monkey sets for the wedding.

The marriage becomes successful. The queen gets her son and a beautiful daughter-in-law after a long miserable life. The play end in mirth as the king makes his son the prince of his estate and the monkey as his minister.

It is a journey of fun and mirth. And putting Abananendranath Tagore in such a kaleidoscopic musical is the real challenge. I am very much fortunate that Shishu Kishore Akademi gave me the chance to work with some incredible young talents who have really set the stage ablaze.

They have been trained and rehearsed for more than one month and made our dream true. I am very much thankful to the Akademi and, especially, to Smt. Arpita Ghosh, the Honorable Chairperson of the Akademi for giving me such an opportunity to work with best young talent I have ever met. The designs, the music, the choreography – all are bestowed at their best to make the production the most successful hilarious musical the Kolkata stage has ever seen.

Children Theatre is such a genre of theatre where the teacher-director has the providence to learn much from the children. It is, and must be, obviously, a collaborative process that creates a bond between human beings. The relationship between a teacher and a taught always gets vice-versa – as you teach, you learn a lot; as you learn, you can teach. It is a great opportunity of having an intra-personal development. And in this very project, I have been just carried away with the children. The love, the care, the responsibility, the intensity they have shown in performance [as they have practiced simultaneously in that very time span of their own lives] put me in great debt that I could never pay back.

Thank You, darlings! I will miss you.

Play: Khirer Putul
Based on the story by Abanindranath Tagore
Music: Uma Bose
Soundscape: Dishari Chakraborty
Light: Sudip Sanyal
Make Up: Md. Ali
Costume: Sudheshna Chakraborty
Produced by Pashchimbanga Shishukishore Akademi, Govt. of WB

Drama, Set, Music, Design & Direction
Raja Bhattacharya