After a successful debut in Mumbai last evening, the dance drama will now travel to the Little Theatre Group, Mandi House on January 18, 2026
Mumbai, January 10 — Nayika Bhoomika, a dance drama produced by Indrani Mukerjea Enterprise, premiered last evening at the St Andrew’s Auditorium, Bandra, unfolding as a single, continuous work of theatre drawn from four Tagore texts — Chokher Bali, Chandalika, Kabuliwala and Maan Bhonjon. Following its Mumbai debut, the production will move next to New Delhi, where it will be staged at the Little Theatre Group in Mandi House on January 18, 2026.
At the centre of the evening was Mukerjea, who performed key roles across the work, including Binodini in Chokher Bali and Giribala in Maan Bhonjon. Her presence anchored the production’s emotional register, allowing the four narratives to flow into one another without interruption or reset.
“These stories have lived with me for a long time,” she said. “What interested me was not retelling them, but staying with the women inside them…their choices, their hesitations, their moral courage. Nayika Bhoomika grows from that attention.”
The production is conceived, directed and choreographed by Madhumita Chakraborty and Tony Chakraborty, a duo who treat dance as a narrative language rather than an embellishment. Movement, silence and music carry the interior life of the characters, allowing the audience to move from one story to the next as part of a single thought rather than four separate acts.
“Choreography here begins with listening,” says Madhumita Chakraborty. “Listening to what the text holds back as much as what it says. Movement follows that.”
Music for the production is composed and directed by Santanu Bhattacharya, with arrangements by Abani Mohan Biswas. Vocal performances by Ujjal Mukherjee and Sharmistha Ghosh, along with choral textures by the Khanika Choir from Serampore, Kolkata, form the sonic spine of the evening. Tony Chakraborty also oversees background music and technical direction.
The cast includes actors Manini De as the Sutradhar, Madhumita Chakraborty, Subrat Panda, Aakriti Sharma, Nilesh Khandalkar, Nivedita Mohapatra, Sunil Bhuvad and a supporting ensemble of dancers. The production’s visual and narrative frame is shaped by lighting designers Abhishek Narayan and Chetan Dhawale, sets and backdrop by Kailash Shelar, script by Kulraj Bedi and voice work by Jigna Bharadhwaj.
“Tagore didn’t write women to be explained or resolved. Through this dance drama, we try to honour that by letting them remain complex, and by not rushing past their silences,” said Mukerjea.
After its Mumbai premiere, all eyes are now on New Delhi, where Nayaka Bhoomika will continue its journey as a work that favours attentiveness over spectacle and continuity over fragmentation, while engaging with Tagore’s writing as living theatre.
