The forerunner of mime in Bangladesh

Zahangir Alom

Photo Courtesy: Partha Pratim Majumder

IN ancient time, when people were yet to enchain themselves with the structure of language, they would definitely use gesture, sign, signal and other symbolic expressions to put across their feelings interacting with each other. The verbal helplessness of the ancient people has been turned into the art of mime in modern age.

The language of human exultation, love, pain, rage, gesture and eye contact is universal. The appeal of that language surpasses conventional or structured language. Gesticulation of mime is like unending moving clouds that eternally float over the moonlight of human hearts generating artistic feelings and emotions.

Very few artistes in this world have attained mastery over mime, the base of all performing art forms. Etienne Decroux is the father of modern mime, while the greatest mime maestro Marcel Marceau is thought to be the father of French mime. The name of Marcel Marceau has become synonymous with pantomime, the unique form of art.

To become a 'Mime Par Excellence' one has to have a perfect body lines, agility, sense of timing, sense of humour, keen eyes for nuances and an innovative mind.

Partha Pratim Majumder is undoubtedly the forerunner of mime in Bangladesh. Though, at his early days, he started learning music at Ifa Sangeet Bidyaloy, Pabna, his keen sense of rhythm enabled him to let his limbs move and express his surroundings through gestures.

“'Natya Shastra' of Bharata Muni is the earliest surviving text on theatre and drama where Indian theatre encompasses all the different forms of fine arts and literature like dance, music, mime, movement, sculpture, painting and architecture,” says Partha Pratim Majumder.

Pantomime has been made popular in Bangladesh after the liberation of the country, thanks to the single-handed effort by Partha Pratim, a young Bangladeshi in his early twenties with only dreams in his eyes. Before the liberation of the country the artiste studied at Chandannagar, Calcutta now Kolkata and took lessons on the performing art form at the Jogesh Dutta Mime Academy from 1966 to 1972, but his unquenchable thirst for the genre put him in touch with world renowned artistes. The artiste was profoundly impressed by Jogesh and nurtured the idea in his mind to become a mime artiste someday.

Born in an arty family of Pabna, Bangladesh on January 18, 1954, Partha delights in reminiscing the nostalgic days of his childhood that he passed in his grandfather's (from father's side) house called “Kalachandbari”, the biggest Thakurbari in Pabna. Later, the area of the city was named as Kalachandpara.

Premangshu Kumar Biswas is the upbringing name of mime master Partha Pratim Majumder. Though he was very thin in his childhood, he was also adorably addressed as “Bheem” at that time by his grandmother. His friends called him as “Bhanu.” His father late Himangshu Kumar Biswas was a press photographer. The then world renowned photography company “Agfa Gevert” took Partha's father to Germany, Belgium and Italy for offering training in colour photography. Himangshu Kumar Biswas' ancestral root was in Pangsha, Faridpur but he had a studio in Pabna and lived there. Partha's mother Sushrika Biswas was a housewife.

Partha is the second of his parents' five offspring. Partha's elder brother Kanu is in leadership of the leftist party in Chandannagar, West Bengal. His immediate younger brother Rajkumar (Engineer) lives in Toronto, Canada while his youngest brother Rupkumar (Doctor) lives in USA. His only sister Minu is a housewife.

After the creation of Bangladesh Partha Pratim came back to the country and joined Music College in Dhaka as a student to learn singing, as there was no opportunity to study mime here. He got the highest marks in his I. Mus examination under Dhaka Board and successfully passed his B. Mus examination from the same college.

Eminent classical music guru of Bangladesh Ustad Barin Majumder and his wife eminent musician and exponent Ila Majumder had adopted him so he lived in their quarters in Segunbagicha, Dhaka. Being adopted by Barin Majumder, Partha has two more brothers Partho Sarathi Majumder (Bapun), a music composer and guitar player and popular singer, composer and music director Bappa Majumder.

Partha Pratim was perhaps cut out from the mime world as it did not take long for the people in the performing art to recognise his mettle in the art. They came forward to encourage and support him in developing his talent. In his words, “Also being a theatre artiste, I got support from almost all the people involved in cultural movement going on at that time in the country. I must mention the names of Nasiruddin Yousuff Bachchu, Asaduzzaman Noor, Aly Zaker, Ataur Rahman, Habib Ahsan, Hedayet Husain Morshed, Shafiq Rehman, Mustafa Monowar and Ramendu Majumdar among many others, who encouraged me all the way. I got the opportunity to perform on a BTV programme “Jadi Kichhu Money Na Koren” by Fazle Lohani. Participation in that programme earned me huge popularity. People began to understand and appreciate the form of art called mime,” Partha Pratim mentions.

“In 1979, I was offered to do my first solo performance by the Shilpakala Academy. There, the then French Ambassador to Dhaka, Loic Moreau and the director of Alliance Française, Gerard Grousse were present among the audience. They were highly impressed by my performance and offered me a scholarship in 1981 to obtain professional training on mime under the legendary French mime maestro Etienne Decroux, who was 90 year old at that time. That was the turning point of my life. From Decroux I learned about corporal mime which was developed by him. Later, I met Decroux's student and another legend by his right, Marcel Marceau, the man who has taken modern mime to the Himalayan heights. When my scholarship was extended for another three years, I was keenly interested to join the school of Marcel Marceau called 'Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris-Marcel Marceau' that was founded in 1978. It is the world biggest and the most famous school of Mime. Performing artistes not only from Europe but also from across the globe would come here to learn various forms of mime like pantomime, corporal mime, drama, ballet, modern dance, sword fighting, stick fighting, acrobatics and theatrical acrobatics under Marceau. It was not easy but after taking some tests in his studio, Marceau finally agreed to enrol me as his pupil. I become his first Asian student. We, the all 53 students, received schooling under the maestro from 1982 to 1985. Among them 37 were foreign students hailing from different countries like England, Australia, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Columbia, Chile, USA, Spain, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Holland, Poland, Switzerland and Sweden. It was a rare honour and I felt extremely proud to be a Bangladeshi. From him I learned many forms of performing arts that are necessary to express various moods with perfection. In 1984, I went to Chicago and New York to perform French mime with the troupe directed by Marcel Marceau himself," Partha Pratim Majumder says.

About Marceau Partha Pratim has to say this: “He takes something from our culture, puts it into European culture and creates his own.” With this guru of his, Partha participated on a research project on Oriental and Western Mime in 1985-86 and again in 1990.

Photo: Anwar Hossain

After spending three years with his idol Marceau, there was no stopping for Partha. He staged solo performances in England, Belgium, Germany, Italy Spain, and the USA. His solo performances were telecast by French, Canadian, USA TV channels and BBC.

Quoting Marcel Marceau, Partha Pratim says, "Mime is nothing but just to show you how to stand."

"Mime is at the same time the antique and the modern form of performing art. The know-how of corporal mime is mandatory for a performing artiste to smoothly stand on her/his career. If mime is compared with a short story, mimodrama is to be compared with a novel while pantomime predominantly deals with the comical presentations," Partha Pratim distinguishes.

In 1990, Partha opened his own mime school in Bretange, France. That's par-fulfilment of his dream. It will be complete when he will be able to open a mime academy in Bangladesh.

It is matter of hope that Grameenphone joined hands with world-renowned performer Partha to revive the art of mime in Bangladesh. The announcement of setting up a mime academy was made in the middle of the last year at a Mime Carnival arranged by Grameenphone at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank; Grameenphone's Chief People Officer, Arnfinn Groven and Chief Communications Officer, Kazi Monirul Kabir, were present at the carnival.

At the carnival, Grameenphone launched a series of TV commercials. All the TVCs feature mime performances by Partha Pratim. The TVCs are on air and are expected to popularise mime among the masses.

“Mime has its roots in theatrics. I conduct classes on mime around the world. Mime is slowly losing its appeal in Bangladesh, as it was not nurtured properly. I suppose I have a responsibility towards my country. Grameenphone will set up a mime academy of international standard that will act as a platform for all the performing art forms. I plan to stay in Bangladesh every six months to look after the academy,” says Partha Pratim.

“Learning is a process that necessarily claims cognition, perception and symbolic interaction. The art of mime can be helpful in making children learn the artistic symbols like butterfly, fish, snake, flower etcetera, as these are essentially being learnt in schools of developed countries. The inner potential of children can flourish through learning mime. Again, both the basic and the performing art forms of Bangladesh are expected to get resurrected through setting up of this academy. My prime focus will be to uphold our rich folk culture through mime so that the identity of Bangladesh becomes unique in the world,” adds the artiste.

Grameenphone is a strong believer in the cultural strength of Bangladesh. The organisation believes that if the cultural heritage of the country is properly nurtured, it will be able to play a positive role in the development of Bangladesh.

Partha Pratim Majumder delights in conducting mime classes and workshops with fellow artistes and students to promote the art of mime and share his expertise. He frequently works with hearing and speech impaired, using mime to develop skills in self-expression and communication.

Partha along with his family is now based in Paris and works regularly in French films, theatre and publicity. Since the mid-1980s his artistic excellence has unfolded on the illuminated stages both at home and abroad. His devotion and sensitivity uplift an ordinary theme to a sublime height, transcending cultural barriers. His wife Jayashree Majumder (Jhumu), niece and a disciple of Ustad Barin Majumder is a Professor of a Paris based music school “Soleil d'or.” She regularly performs both Eastern and Western classical music throughout Europe and Latin America. Their only son Nicolas Supratim Majumder is studying Sound Engineering in Ecole Superier Audio Visual, one of the very famous institutes of Europe while the artistes' only daughter Marie Doel Majumder is taking her A-Level this year in Paris.

Partha Pratim Majumder received French citizenship without submitting his Bangladeshi Citizenship in 1988. Marcel Marceau wrote on his French citizenship recommendation paper that read, “Partha Pratim has made a unique bridge between Eastern and Western forms of mime that is very new and entirely his own creation. I hope if artiste like him permanently lives and works here, then this form of art will go many miles ahead.” Four erstwhile French ministers also specially recommended on his citizenship paper.

Eminent Bangladeshi poet Shamsur Rahman once said, “The artworks by Partha Pratim is entirely based on silence; but he made this eloquence in silence that resembles lively poem. That's why he is a renowned and prideful Bangalee.”

"Partha Pratim is not only a world renowned mime artiste but also he himself is an institution," says eminent educationist and writer Professor Zafar Iqbal.

Partha Pratim Majumder was conferred the "Master of Mime" Award by the only mime academy of India “Jogesh Mime Academy” in 1987. The Journalist Association of Malaysia honoured him with "Master of the World" in the same year. Partha received the highest European honour for theatre named “Moliere Award” in 2009. He also received the Munier Chowdhury Award, the highest honour for theatre (Non Governmental) in 2009. And last but not the least he bagged the highest honour of Bangladesh "Ekushey Padak" in 2010.

Though Partha Pratim Majumder is now famous all around the world, he sees the world with the eyes of that “Bhanu” who roamed around his blissful childhood on the bank of the river Padma.

“I am the son of this soil though I am a citizen of France. Bangladesh circles in my dreams. My lifestyle in Paris is of as like as a Bangladeshi-Bangalee. My existence lies in the reddened sun inscribed in the flag of Bangladesh while my every heartbeat renders the national anthem of Bangladesh,” The artiste concludes.

Zahangir Alom is with the “Arts & Entertainment” of The Daily Star