Popular theatre troupe BotTala staged its much-acclaimed production “Khona” at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in the capital on May 4. This is the 88th show of the play.
Written by Samina Luthfa Nitra, the play has been directed by Mohammad Ali Haider. The staged drama tells the story of Khona, an iconic character in Bangla folklore who left behind many beautiful sayings on agricultural aspects, popularly known as “Khonar Bochon” or the sayings of Khona.
Mihir, an astrologer, is disowned by his father Barah, as he makes a big astrological miscalculation. Barah is a royal astrologer of Dharmaketu. Lila (Khona), the wife of Mihir who is also a powerful astrologer, reunites the father and the son. Then, Lila and Mihir are introduced to the royal court and eventually both of them join the team of royal astrologers. After a short while, Lila starts reading the future and finds out that the farmers in the kingdom have high prospects for agriculture.
She gathers knowledge and spreads her findings among the farmers in the form of rhythmic verses. Seeing the high popularity of Lila, her father-in-law Barah becomes jealous. He claims Lila’s work as his. When she retaliates, Barah orders Mihir to cut Lila’s tongue off. Since then Lila is known as “Khona” or ‘who cannot speak’.
The cast of the play includes Samina Lutfa Nitra, Kazi Ruksana Ruma, Imran Khan Munna, Taufique Hasan, Ivan Reaz, Sheuti Shahgupta, Mizanur Rahman, Pankaj Majumdar, Shumit Tewary Rana, Humayun Azam, Nafiul Islam, Hafiza Akter Jhuma, Hamidul Islam Hillol, M. Sayed and others.