22 June 2025
On the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore’s 164th birth anniversary, Ghar Aur Bahar, a stage adaptation of his iconic novel Ghare Baire, unfolded at Delhi’s LTG Auditorium with a quiet intensity that lingered long after the final bow. Directed by Shuddho Banerjee and produced by Saanjhbaati, the play offered a bold, minimalist reimagining of Tagore’s layered narrative—one that probes the fragile intersections of love, freedom, and political ideology.
Set against the backdrop of colonial Bengal, Ghar Aur Bahar doesn’t merely retell a story, it interrogates it. The characters—Vipin Kumar as Nikhilesh, the rationalist idealist; Shreeya Kummar as Vimala, caught between domesticity and desire; and Neil Banerjee as Sandip, the fiery nationalist are not just figures in a love triangle but embodiments of clashing worldviews. Banerjee’s direction resists melodrama, allowing the emotional and ideological tensions to simmer beneath the surface.
The set design, also helmed by Banerjee, evokes a Bengal in flux: an old veranda bathed in muted light, ambient sounds of unrest, and sparse props that let the performances breathe. This aesthetic minimalism amplifies the psychological weight of the narrative, drawing the audience into the quiet devastation of a household under siege not by war, but by ideas.
What sets this adaptation apart is its refusal to simplify. Where Satyajit Ray’s 1984 film adaptation leaned into cinematic elegance, Banerjee’s version embraces the contradictions within Tagore’s critique of both colonialism and swadeshi extremism. The result is a production that feels startlingly contemporary, echoing today’s debates around nationalism, gender roles, and personal agency.
Ghar Aur Bahar is not just a tribute to Tagore—it’s a conversation with him. And in that dialogue, it invites us to reflect on the ideologies we inherit, the freedoms we negotiate, and the intimacies we risk in the process.
