Jatra Shots – Ruma Dasgupta, Ashok Banerjee, Dibakar De, Subhayu Mukherjee, et al

Another jatra clip. Here we see actor Ashok Banerjee in whiteface and ginger wig portraying a villainous British officer, Ruma Dasgupta as the titular Rani Rashmoni, and Dibakar De as Hindu mystic, religious unifier and spiritual reformer Ramakrishna.

The Sri Chaitanya Opera is a jatra company based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The play is an historical drama called Karunamoyee Rani Rashmoni (Gracious Rani Rashmoni) written by Babli Bhattacharya, directed by Ruma Dasgupta who also performs the title role, with lyrics by Ujal Biswas and music by Swapan Pakrasai. The location is the Kestopur neighborhood of Kolkata.

This is part of a collection of jatra scenes I shot while a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India during 2018-19. They’re handheld and shaky, intended for my personal reference, but they might be of entertainment or educational value to others.

Check out the rest on my Youtube “Jatra Shots” playlist.