Nandanik Dance Troupe presented Raja - King of the Dark Chamber on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at the Richard E. Rauh Theater, Shady Side Academy, 423 Fox Chapel Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238.

The story unfolds in Heaven, where Sourasen is a musician (Gandharva) in the court of Indra, the king of gods. His beloved Madhusree is away for a few days. A lovelorn Sourasen, misses a beat on his Mridangam (drum) while accompanying with Urvashi’s dance at the Indrasabha (Court) . This infuriates Indra who curses Sourasen to be born as a mortal, ugly and deformed. On pleadings by Madhusree, the curse is reduced: both of them will be banished from the heaven and will be born as mortal humans and they would have to live through the sorrows of human existence.

Sourasen and Madhusree are born as Prince Aruneshwar and Princess Kamalika, respectively, in two countries. As a king, Aruneswar comes across Kamalika's portrait and instantly falls in love. He proposes marriage, and Kamalika accepts. However, Aruneshwar sends his Veena (a musical instrument) as his representative at the royal wedding. They get married before Kamalika sees him. The King and the queen meet every night at his dark chamber. All she hears is his voice and his heavenly music. But Kamalika insists on seeing him in the light. Eventually Aruneshwar relents to her pleas. Kamalika is aghast at what she sees. Kamalika feels betrayed. Devastated, she leaves the King and hides in shame, in a cottage in the midst of the woods.

The music for Raja - King of the Dark Chamber was produced and recorded in India under the direction of Rahul Chattopadhyay, famous for his arrangements in several movies, concerts, and record industry. The songs were directed by Pramita Mullick, an eminent Rabindra Sangeet Singer, and Agnibho Bandopadhyay, a very popular Rabindra Sangeet artist from Kolkata. A variety of traditional Indian instruments such as Sitar, Sarod, Flute, Esraj, Tabla, Khol, Pakhawaj, Ghatam, Mridangam, and guitar has enriched the musical score.

The dances in the drama have been choreographed in Bharatanatyam and Manipuri (two of the classical dance forms of India) and Chhau (a regional folk dance style) by Nandini Mandal. She is a leading exponent of Bharatanatyam. Through her Nandanik Dance Academy, Ms. Mandal has been training numerous students in Bharatanatyam as well as in Folk Dance (Lokanritya) and Contemporary (Navanritya) styles. Her dance team regularly performs in the Pittsburgh region and has been invited to several locations in North America.

Narration was done in English by Brita Chakrabarty, well-known to the Pittsburgh audience for her beautiful voice and rendition. The show had running sub-titles in English.