With Radha-ramakrishna, staged by Kalyani Kalamandalam and directed by Santanu Das, Ghosh enters the cloistered ecosystem of the Shakti cult, intertwined with Vaishnava aesthetics. Ghosh interpolates scenes from the Bengali public theatre where Binodini Dasi, under the tutelage of Girish Chandra Ghosh, plays Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Star Theatre’s legendary Chaitanya Leela. Das complicates the act further by casting a female actor (the ever-reliable Monalisa Chatterjee) as Ramakrishna and a male actor with an androgynous bearing (the charming Ranjan Bose) as Binodini. ADVERTISEMENTCross-gender acting was commonplace in the early years of Bengali public theatre because of the paucity of female actors. He upsets some stage stereotypes — casting a lean Sudipta Dutta to play Girish Chandra Ghosh — and opts for a melodramatic acting pattern to suit the period feel.

Source: The Telegraph January 31, 2026 03:12 UTC