Bengali theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Bengali language. Bengali theatre is produced mainly in West Bengal, and in Bangladesh. The term may also refer to some Hindi theatres which are accepted by the Bengali people.
Prabhakar Panshikar also known as Pant was an actor on Marathi Stage. His character as Lakhoba Lokhande in the drama To Mi Navhech, written by Prahlad Keshav Atre is considered to be one of the immortal roles presented so far on the Marathi theatre. Five unique characters played in this drama To Mee Navhech made him famous in Marathi theatre and Maharashtra. He also performed Aurangzeb's role in a play Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu based on the death of Sambhaji Raje Bhosale. He was the owner of Natyasampada, a Marathi drama production organization.
Mohit Chattopadhyaya was a Bengali Indian playwright, screenwriter, dramatist and poet. He was a leading figure in modern Indian drama. Mohit Chottopadhya died on 12 April 2012. He had been suffering from cancer.
Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury, also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor and politician who has been the Education Minister of West Bengal since 2021. He has also assumed the same office in the First Mamata Banerjee ministry. In May 2016, Basu was assigned the portfolios of Tourism, Science Technology and Bio-Technology, Information Technology and Electronics. He has been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, from the Dum Dum constituency since the 2011 Assembly Election of West Bengal. Basu is presently the Chairperson of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi and Minerva Natyasanskriti Charchakendra under the governance of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, West Bengal.
Manoj Mitra is an Indian theatre, film and television actor, director and playwright.
Khaled Choudhury was a theatre personality and artist of Bengal. He worked for various directors of both Bengali and Hindi plays, including Sombhu Mitra, Tripti Mitra, and Shyamanand Jalan in various capacities — creating the Stage, sets and costumes and later as music director. He was a bachelor. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to theatre in India's Republic Day Honours List on 26 January 2012. He died on 30 April 2014 in Kolkata.
Paschim Banga Natya Akademi is a learned society for drama and theatre in West Bengal, India. Established on 26 September 1987, it is a wing of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal. The aim of this society is to develop skill and expertise, to document and archive the history of Bengali theatre, to disseminate information, to understand theories, as well as to promote and project significant creativity in the field.
The group theatre of Kolkata refers to a tradition in theatres in the Indian city Kolkata, which developed in the 1940s as an alternative to entertainment-oriented theatres. As opposed to commercial theatres, group theatre is "a theatre that is not professional or commercial", characterized by its tendency for experimentation in theme, content and production, and its aim of using the proscenium stage to highlight social messages, rather than having primarily making-money objectives.
Swatilekha Sengupta was a Bengali actress. She had received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to Indian theatre as an actor.
Debshankar Haldar is a Bengali theatre actor with a long career in Bengali theatre groups such as Nandikar, Rangapat, Natyaranga, Sudrak, Gandhar, Bratyajon, Sansriti and Blank Verse. Known for his versatility, he played the role of Debabrata Biswas in ‘Bratyajon’'s production ‘Ruddha Sangeet’, Swami Vivekananda in Lokkrishti's Biley and the historical theatrical figure Sisir Kumar Bhaduri in Indraranga's Nisshanga Samrat. Debshankar has also worked in films.
Sundaram is a Bengali theatre group, established in 1957. They have staged more than 40 productions like Fingerprint, Char Dewalergolpo, Parabas, Sajano Bagan, and Alokanandar Putra Kanya.
Sanglap Kolkata or Sanglap theatre group is a Kolkata based Bengali theatre group. The theatre group was founded in 1979. The group's first production was "Ispat" based on Nikolai Ostrovsky's novel "How the Steel Was Tempered".
Sudipta Chakraborty is an Indian film & television actress who mostly works in Bengali cinema. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Bariwali. She gained huge recognition for her portrayal as Tista in the long-running Ravi Ojha's Bengali daily soap opera Khela. Chakraborty had participated as contastant in the first season of Bigg Boss Bangla (2013) She was the top four finalist in the reality show. She is also an anchor, talk show host, casting director and an acting coach.
Bidipta Chakraborty is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Bengali films. She had appeared in Debesh Chattopadhyay's play Brain.
Sansriti is a Bengali theatre group. The group was founded on 9 February 1993. Debesh Chattopadhyay is a notable member of this group. Notable eminent theatre and film personalities regularly participate in this group's plays.
Purba Paschim is a Bengali theatre group of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The group was founded in 2005 and has staged several plays like Babli, Ashalin etc. The famous productions of the group are "Patalbabu Filmstar" based on Satyajit Roy's story and " Antony Soudamini" Directed By Soumitra Mitra, Tagores Play Chaturanga Directed By Bratya Basu acted by Kushal Chakraborty, Chaity Ghoshal, Debdut Ghosh, Soumitra Mitra. Notable people like Biswajit Chakraborty, Gargi roychoudhry, Shaantilal Mukherjee, Chaity Ghosal, Debdut Ghosh, Kanchana Moitro, Subhrajeet Dutta, Kushal Chakraborty, Film Actor Rahul acted in this Group. In the Festivals of this Group We have seen, Amman Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Soumitra Chatterjee, Mohan Aghase, Gulzar, Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar, Nandita Das and Many Others.
Anya Theatre is a Bengali theatre group. The group was founded in 1985 by Bibhas Chakraborty.
Arpita Ghosh, is an Indian theatre artist and politician who serves as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from West Bengal. She has served as the Member of Parliament of the 16th Lok Sabha for Balurghat, West Bengal. She won the 2014 Indian general election being an All India Trinamool Congress candidate.
Satya Bandhyopadhyay was an Indian actor, known for his work in Bengali cinema. He acted in over 300 Plays, in numerous plays and performed frequently on the theatre.
Bibhash Chakraborty is an Indian Bengali actor and theatre personality. He is also a social activist. He is a prolific writer too. He was associated with Paschim Banga Natya Akademi for many years.
