Stage design
The Electrical Department was participating for the first time in the One-Act Play competition organized by our college for the very first time. My batchmates came to me for a story and returned with a stage design as well. Not only that, but I also did a bit of costume design and makeup for the actors.
Final Formation
The story starts by showing the daily cursed lifestyle of three Indian Transgenders in a backdrop of old Calcutta during the pre-Puja season. They roam around the streets and buses begging but only receive curse words. Around the evening, they saw a girl getting molested and one of them tries to rescue her. But the drunken brats start molesting her instead, that's when the rest comes and beat the goons blue. With this, I wanted to convey that though you are neglected by others, you too can be as powerful when you combine with your types, and thus no one is a minority.
The stage
'Tri-Nayan' means the third eye. It is believed in Hindu mythology that the Supreme only has the third eye. The title is given so to respect and empower the third gender.
The Backdrop
For the act, I designed:
1. A backdrop image of a window, a hand-pulled rickshaw, and an unfinished idol of Durga depicting Old Calcutta just before the Durga Puja.
2. Curse and negative words hung down the roof to emphasize how transgenders feel when they are segregated from mainstream society.
3. There was a scene where we had to show a public bus with passengers. For this, I provided a cutout of the lower portion of a bus, so that one could sit behind it using a chair to give it a feel of passengers traveling in a bus.
4. I did the makeup of the goons and made a snake tattoo on one of the transgender’s belly to give rawness & individuality to the character.
The bus
The villains
Let's look at some photos from the drama.
