Rashmi Rekha Das
With its wide array of attractive and exotic costumes, Chitralaya has been catering to school and college students as well as theatre artistes since 1947. The decades-old store boasts a stock of colourful costumes themed on mythology, freedom fighters and stock characters from popular fiction and folklore, which makes it a one-stop destination for
students ahead of a fancy dress competition in school
School events are always exciting especially the annual day and sports day that are important dates on the academic calendar. But the fancy dress contest is the one really adventurous activity that allows children to dress up as their favourite characters and portray their creative bent of mind and attitude. It is the art of wearing an amusing or unusual costume as a part of a theme. Children love to dream and fancy dress competitions are a good way to make their dreams come true, even if for a little time. Such extracurricular activities help bolster children’s imaginative abilities and stir in them the spirit of creativity.
It is a quite a sight: Tiny tots appearing on the stage in different exotic costumes and expressing their feelings in innocent and melodious chirrups. All parents want to see their children dressed in the most creative and stylish way. But finding the right fancy dress costume is a herculean task. The search for the appropriate dress is often so anxious and hurried that parents have to spend sleepless nights. They run helter-skelter looking for the best costumes within the stipulated time. It is then that Chitralaya comes to their rescue.
Chitralaya is the ideal place for those on the lookout for top quality costumes, ornaments and other merchandise related to cinema, drama, folk dance, mythology and Indian festivals. You would not only find the right costumes to dress up your child in the likeness of a favourite character from mythology or history, but also a variety of wigs, masks and other novel accessories to complete the look. Since Independence, the shop has been catering to schoolchildren, college-goers and theatre artistes. But how did it spread its wings across the state? SUNDAY POST focuses on the history and the contribution of its founder members.
Man and his mission
Krushna Chitralaya in Cuttack is believed to be the first shop set up in 1947 to cater to the requirements of schoolchildren, college-goers and those who regularly participated in cultural events. It started offering costumes on rent. Over the years, it earned reputation and created a niche among art lovers. It has an array of character costumes such as the Spiderman suit, Superman dress, Batman fancy suit, Mickey Mouse costume and tweety bird fancy dress. It also has a large collection of freedom fighter costumes that are in huge demand ahead of Independence and Republic Day functions in schools. Besides, it has costumes of doctors, firemen, postmen.
RabindraRath, who runs Krushna Chitralaya after the demise of his father, says, “My father was a well-known theatre artiste. He was associated with Orissa Theatres managed by Kabi Chandra Kalicharan Patnaik. After a few years, his co-artistes left Orissa Theatres and joined Annapurna Theatres. He, however, didn’t quit the group. Orissa Theatres closed down after a few years. During his stint in Orissa Theatres, my father had learnt the art of make-up and painting faces. When he was a young man, he had seen many amateur artistes run from pillar to post for costumes and other necessary requirements to act in a play. Earlier, people went to Kolkata to get the costumes and other stuff related to drama.
The idea of coming up with a customer-cum-makeup house struck him early. He founded Krushna Chitralaya at Balu Bazaar and started renting costumes to theatre artistes. He would go to see dramas that were staged in different villages and offered opportunities to budding artistes. He would often provide costumes for free. He soon became known among art lovers who used to come from every part of state. He also trained many employees working under him. Today they have opened several branches of Chitralaya across the state in the honour of my father. He is an artiste in the true sense.”
Recalling an incident, Rabi says: “Once a student of SCB Medical College and Hospital came to my father. He was participating in a fancy dress competition organised by the medical college and had been asked to portray a leprosy patient. After the final make-up was done, a rickshaw puller was called to drop him at the function venue. On seeing the man, the rickshaw puller declined to take him to SCB. You will be surprised to know that at least six rickshaw pullers refused to take the student. Finally, my father told a rickshaw puller that he was a medical student dressed as a patient. The story doesn’t end here. The student was not allowed to enter the auditorium where the competition was being held. One of the professors asked him to leave. The boy had to show his identity card to gain access to the auditorium. That tells a lot about father’s talent.”
Krushna Chitralaya has, however, stopped giving costumes on rent. It sells costumes. Parents can find all kinds of costumes here – from that of a Sheikh to Shakespeare. It has an impressive collection of accessories – necklaces, hairpieces and Gandhi glasses. In Bhubaneswar, Rabi’s sister runs Krushna Chitralaya.
Artiste’s commitment
After Krushna Chitralaya, Janata Chitralaya at Unit VIII in Bhubaneswar is a well-known name. Here the range of costumes is quite large. In the business since 1999, the shop stocks everything from Indian dance costumes, fruits and vegetable costumes to mythological and cartoon costumes. Over time it has earned a reputation for its designs and quality of work. Biranchi Narayan Mohapatra, the chief of the store, was spotted by
SUNDAY POST making a 5-feet throne for a 25-feet Ganesh idol. Despite being busy, he shared information about Janata Chitralaya.
Mohapatra was once an active theatre artiste. When he worked for Annapurna Theatre in Puri, he was famous for his stage prowess. He was one of young theatre artistes who would teach the art to young enthusiasts. He loved to participate in plays based on current affairs and the hard-hitting realities of life. He wanted to make a career in politics and quit Annapurna.
Meanwhile, he set up a costume house, Rashmita Chitralaya, in 1958 at Ranpur. Within two years, he started earning kudos for his unique costume design and polite behaviour. Soon he joined politics and got elected as a sarpanch twice. However, he lost the election to the zilla parishad and suffered a loss of Rs 13 lakh. Finding no other means at his disposal, he sold off Rashmita Chitralaya to repay his loan. Meanwhile, one of his relatives asked him to look after Janata Chitralaya.
“Things went haywire after I lost the election. I just could not think of doing anything. However, one of my relatives came to my rescue. He told me: ‘You the sole person we can rely on to look after Janata Chitralaya which was in dire straits’. After the death of its founder, it was incurring heavy losses. So I decided to shoulder the responsibility. In Bhubaneswar, Janata Chitralaya is the first choice among schoolchildren, college students and play artistes. One can either take costumes on rent or buy the costumes. Apart from costumes, we have a variety of props and accessories. It is famous for its Indian-inspired outfits of that of the maharajas, maharanis, soldiers, police officers, gods and goddesses complete with accessories to match including swords and fake guns. It also has a large stock of cartoon-themed costumes.
“Every day parents come and express their gratefulness for giving their kids the best look. Many parents have offered me ‘baksis’ after their kids won prizes in fancy dress competitions. But I never accepted any money because for me art is worship and I am a worshipper,” he says.
Costumes of all hues
It may be a tiny costume house at Damana Square in the capital city but caters to a large base of customers. At Orissa Chitralaya you would find all mythological costumes used during festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Janmashtami. It also has kids’ favourite Batman and Mickey Mouse costumes. The kathak and bhangra costumes, too, are in demand.
Set up in 2014, Orissa Chitralaya has four employees including its owner Kamalakant Bisoi. Asked how the idea of setting up Chitralaya struck him, Kamalakant says, “I love acting. When I was young, I used to face problems to get a costume for playing a role in a play. That’s why I came up with idea to set up Chitralaya. We bear loss when schools remain closed during May, June. Three months, May, June and July, we bear loss as schoolchildren are the main source of our income. We charge the highest, Rs 300, for a costume. We hire special a make-up man and a special dresser occasionally. They are paid on a daily basis.
