Sonnet Lumiere in Kolkata

Life is a cycle of events, confluences and aberrations. Friends discovered, foes made, others lost. Precious time, wastes away. Glories created are forgotten as time elapses. Tears pelt for yesterday are dried in time for tomorrow, until all that remain are mystic, discordant memories of the undeniable yesteryear…

But memories can be refurbished. The haunting sounds of the past and flashback of images from yesteryears creating a delusion of phantasmagoria help to recall the forgotten days. And the past engulfs the present.

The Sonnet Lumiere show takes us back to the magnificent past …the past that we would all want to remember forever.

The spectacle talks about West Bengal, a land of overwhelming natural splendor, rich heritage, and culturally inclined people. It takes us to the time of the nawabs, the foreign invaders, the babus and zamindars and to the time of Bengal renaissance and the resurgence of Bengali intelligentsia.

The mystique light and shadow projection takes us inside the Hazaarduari Palace or the Nizamat Fort at the bank of the Bhagirathi River of Lalbagh. As the stream of light wends through the nook and corner of the palace designed by General Duncan Macleod we hear slowly fading gallop of the Nawab’s horse, as if he is coming back to his fort after a hard day’s trip. When we take a glimpse in the armory section of the palace we hear swords clanking as if a playful fight is going on between Alivardi Khan and his grandson Shiraj-ud-Daulah, the last Nawab of Bengal. The dulcet soulful tune played in Sarongi brings out the anguish of the long-lost forgotten past.

The eclectic luminosity takes us to the Church of Our Lady of Bandel, the oldest church in Bengal. Built in Doric architectural style of ancient Greece as the light takes us inside the grotto and the large

St. Augustine Hall a mystique feeling is created as we hear an enveloping broad spectrum of choir of Bach’s ‘Matheus Passion’.

The visual presence of Victoria Memorial, the pristine white colonial insignia reminds us of the days of the magnanimity of the British rule. As we pass through the museum carved with intricate details we hear classical Waltz and Mozart’s Sonata creating a typical high profile British elegance.

Light and illustration combined with suitable sounds creates an illusion of virtual Presidency College in front of us. Situated in College Street it is the oldest college of India. We hear the legendary national cry for freedom ‘Vande Mataram’ as we wend through Presidency campus as it was the hub of revolutionary activities and nationalist upsurge during the Indian freedom struggle. As the light travels through the corridors and staircases we hear young Derozio giving lectures to his students at Hindu College adjacent to Presidency.

The visual treatment takes us to Belur Math at the bank of river Hooghly. The religious abbey has an interesting structure that appears like either a temple or a mosque or a church from any angle. As we wend our way through he Ramkrishna Sarada Mandir we hear sonorous Vedic chants. As we glide past Swami Vivekananda’s two storied house and his cenotaph we hear resonance of Swamiji’s baritone voice saying “I have neither fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It!”, as if he is giving the famous speech at the Chicago summit.

Through usage of various world instruments, broad range of music from Hindusthani classical, Vedic chants to western classical, through treatment of voices, natural Folley sounds and creatively designed sounds conceived with inventively designed lights and illustrations we will present an evening full of mystique nostalgia. The glorious past will come alive through the 15 assorted sequences trying to capture the heritage of Bengal.

While creating the financial implication by implementing creatively designed natural and digital sounds combined with designed lights and illustrations we have conceived a significantly meaningful elaboration of Sonnet Lumiere~ the first of its kind Kolkata has ever witnessed which will be embedded in the audiences’ mind for a considerable time.