Rajdrohi: Inside the mind of a master manipulator

We are all aware of who Khondaker Mostaq is: a traitor, a 'rashtrodrohi'. He is the Mir Jafar of our time. Between the lines of the play 'Rajdrohi', Rezanur Rahman shows us how a revered writer with ill intent can manipulate society through writing, thus creating one Khondaker Mostaq or a Mir Jafar in each generation.

Rezanur wisely chose our 51st Victory Day, on 16 December, to deliver this crucial message in the most subtle possible way, at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. 'Rajdrohi' was theatre troupe Ethic's 10th production under Rezanur's direction and writing.

It was also the first staging of 'Rajdrohi'. Several rounds of applause went around in the first staging – an achievement for any troupe. 

The baseline of 'Rajdrohi' follows a string of decisions Sobhan Chowdhury makes, played by Rezanur himself. Sobhan is a prolific writer who has written more than a hundred books, none of which, however, is on the matter of Bangladesh's Liberation. 

As he is now writing a new book which he names 'Rajdrohi', he is met with rebellion from some of his characters, through dream sequences, while some are complicit with him in manipulation and murder. 

The play is mostly a political innuendo. Beautifully portrayed, it seamlessly rolled in and out of fantasy and reality.

The opening scene of 'Rajdrohi' is of a murderer entering in a black hooded gown, who comes to question Sobhan why he was made a murderer with 27 kills, when all he ever wanted was to become a 'nayok'. The murderer chokes Sobhan, threatening to kill him if his character is not changed. 

Fade to black. Dissolve in. Sobhan wakes up in an interrogation room. His wife was recently murdered, he is a prime suspect, besides his lover, who was a friend of his wife's. During interrogation, he practically says out loud: "The lie is the truth and the truth is the lie… lies are the only truth in my life," to the police officer, through intense interrogation.

The second suspect, Sobhan's lover, who also inspires a character in his book 'Rajdrohi', is brought in for questioning as well, but they both deny they know each other, foreshadowing their involvement later in the play. They both evade the law with their crafty lies, but Sobhan is simply unable to escape the growing resentment his characters keep coming back with. 

He enters a trance-like state where he is in a deep connection with his characters, talking to them, instructing them on how they should try to manipulate the truth and society. Rezanur uses this to establish Sobhan's imagination which drives his writing. One such character is clearly instructed by him to wear the type of 'tupi' and glasses that Khondaker Mostaq wore. 

All the characters come to him and ask for a change of role, regardless of whether it is an evil or good role. Some go back being promoted to a worse character, revealing Sobhan's dominant state of mind in which he writes. Some come to him demanding to be assigned a better role, probably signalling that the writer himself feels remorse for the deeds he makes his characters do. 

Eventually, when most of the characters rebel against abuse, depicted through all the rebels gathering up to murder him in his trance state, he quickly comes back to his senses and admits, "The truth is truth," and promises to write morally.

If the audiences reconcile the play 'Rajdrohi' with reality, they will realise how people have to rise up against those who try to manipulate them and make them do all the dirty work on their behalf. They will realise there will always be a Khondaker Mostaq, but they have to know better and apply better judgement.

Victory Day was the perfect day to remind the audience of this.