"Khandani Kissa": A satire on aristocracy

A scene from Khandani Kissa

There are many so-called "elites" in the society who forget their ordinary roots, when climbing the social ladder. This tendency has been criticised in Shubachan Natya Sangsad's musical comedy titled Khandani Kissa.
Khandani Kissa was staged on July 11 at Mahila Samity Stage.
In S.M. Solaiman's musical comedy two hostile siblings -- Khaled Sobhan and Pushpo Sobhan -- are proud of their family heritage. Their father, however, was an ordinary peasant.
Khaled Sobhan, who was a collaborator of the Pakistani army during the Liberation War, claims that he is the torchbearer of a rich Islamic family tradition. And he wants his next generation to follow that tradition.
On the other hand Pushpo Sobhan was a refugee in India during the Liberation War. Without any involvement with the war, he is honoured as a "Freedom Fighter" in the society. Pushpo Sobhan is a proud aristocrat, following secular family values, and is a patron of the traditional Bengali culture.
But, the shallow aristocracy of both siblings come crashing down when their uncle Shona Miah, a peasant, comes to meet them after a long gap.
To satire the "tendency to compromise" between the secularist and the fundamentalist in the society, in Solaiman's musical comedy the hostile siblings come to an agreement to deal with the "unwanted" situation -- the arrival of their uncle.
Khandani Kissa also satires those who react to injustice in the society, but do little to solve the problem.
Tunes of popular songs have been used in the musical drama, which was initially directed by S.M. Solaiman, and subsequently reconstructed by Ahsan Habib Nasim.
Though sometimes the presentation style of Khandani Kissa may appear as "exaggeration" in many scenes such as portrayal of the character 'Kabi Syed', a cultural activist, as a transvestite, the "rough theatre" has the power to grow hatred amongst the audience on the contemporary social milieu.
Rupa Nasrin as Nusrat Jahan, Imran Khan Munna as Hayat Draj M.A. Haider as Khaled Sobhan and Ahsabn Habib Nasim as Shona Miah performed well.