Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultural awakening among the people of India.[1]
The Bangalore unit of IPTA was formed in 1941.[2] IPTA was formed on 25 May 1943 at the National conference of theater artists held at the Marwari school, Bombay in response to the need for theater artists to become part of the Indian freedom struggle. Its origins lay in the first Progressive Writer's Association Conference that was held in 1936, the establishment of the Youth Cultural Institute at Calcutta in 1940, and the setting up of the People's Theatre in Bangalore by Anil De' Silva in 1941. Its initial members consisted of various progressive cultural troupes, theatre groups and other progressive cultural activists. The name People's Theatre was suggested by the renowned scientist Homi J. Bhabha who was in turn inspired by Romain Rolland's book on the concepts of People's Theatre.[3]
Its initial activities included street plays organized by Binoy Roy of the Bengal Cultural Squad to inform people of the 1942 manmade famine in Bengal. Their ski included a choir 'Bhookha Hai Bengal' created by Vamik Jaunpuri and other songs and plays. The squad included musician Prem Dhawan, drum player Dashrath Lal, singer Reva Roy and actress Usha Dutt. Motivated by this squad, several other cultural groups were formed including the Agra Cultural Squad. IPTA was subsequently formed to organize these local groups at the national level.[3]
Ideologically these groups were inspired by the left movement and the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, P.C. Joshi and the General Secrtetary of the Progressive Writers' Association Sajjad Zaheer.[3]
Initial members
Some of the initial members of the group were Prithviraj Kapoor, Bijon Bhattacharya, Balraj Sahni, Ritwik Ghatak, Utpal Dutt, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Salil Chowdhury, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Jyotirindra Moitra, Niranjan Singh Maan, S. Tera Singh Chan, Jagdish Faryadi, Khalili Faryadi, Rajendra Raghuvanshi, Safdar Mir, Hasan Premani, Amiya Bose, Sudhin Dasgupta, Annabhau Sathe, Shahir Amar shaik etc. The group was formed in 1942, in the background of the Second World War, with Bengal famine of 1943 and starvation deaths in India on the one hand and repression by the colonial masters in the wake of the Quit India Movement and the aggression by the fascist powers on the Soviet Union on the other. An All India People's Theatre Conference was held in Mumbai in 1943 where the group presented its idea and objective of representing the crisis of the time through the medium of theatre and to help people understand their rights and duties. This conference led to the formation of committees of IPTA across India. The movement hit not only theatres, but also cinema and music in Indian languages. Now it is the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI).[4]
Natya Samaroh by IPTA, Chhattisgarh, India
Break up and legacy
IPTA Mumbai was another offshoot that has existed over the last six decades and continue to produce dramas till date.[5] IPTA offshoots exist in other parts of India as well.[6]
Group theaters like Nandikar, Spandan of Kolkata still produce their dramas often in the line of the IPTA movement, and recently there has been effort to start a similar movement inspired by the IPTA.[7]
IPTA in West Bengal
At present IPTA West Bengal is a running organisation led by IPTA West Bengal State Committee. The Secretary is Sri Dibyendu Chattopadhyay, President Sri Hiranmoy Ghosal, Asst. Secretary Sri Ashis Deb and Abhijit Ghosh. There are many cultural personalities like mass singer Kankan Bhattacharjee, Shankar Mukherjee, Debidas Tarafder, Mandira Bhattacharya, Sangita Roy Chowdhuri, Shurti Narayan, Subhaprasad Nandi Mazumder, Santosh Karmakar, Ashim Bandyapadhyay, Supantha Basu, Firoj Ahmed, Soma Chanda, Srupratik, Sriparna Mitra, Swapna Banerjee, Manudhirity Kritaniya, Ashok Mukherjee, Biplab Roy, Anjan Chatterjee, Haimantika Roy, Kamal Ghosh, Kunal Dey, Rekha Hembram, Pradip Roy Chowdhury, Ambarish Roy, and many others. Dramatist: Piyus Sarkar, Tapan Hazra, Ashis Chatterjee, Manish Ghosh, Jayanta Chakraborty, Shyamal Bhattacharya, Paritosh Bhattacharya, Shibankar Chakraborty, Actor: Samudra Guha, Subhajit Dhar, Bolanath Mukherjee, Musumi Joarder, Rubi Gandhi, Bapi Dasgupta, Somya Bhowmik, Madhuja Ghoshal, Atanu Mandol, Abhijit Chatterjee, Sandhya Halder, Goutam Saha, Pinakpani Dasgupta, Sugata Banerjee and others. Dancer: Ashis Deb, Kakoli Deb, Dona, Iti, etc. Film Maker Manish Ghosh, Piyush Sarkar, Pradip Chakraborty, Ambarish Roy etc. There are 23 District Committees under this organisation and there are approximately 11,000 Artist members in this organization. IPTA W B has been reorganised in its 3rd conference held on 1967 at Kolkata Bagbazar reading room Library.[8]
IPTA in Assam
The Assam chapter of IPTA, which worked for the development of humanity through culture, was formed in 1947. Hemango Biswas, the founder secretary of the chapter, worked with some of the prominent personalities of the state such as Jyotiprasad Agarwala, Bishnu Prasad Rabha and Bhupen Hazarika among others. Bhupen Hazarika began close association with IPTA soon after returning from the United States in the 1950s. The golden period of IPTA, from 1952 to 1962, coincided with the golden days of Hazarika's musical career. It was during this period that he composed some of his immortal numbers, including Dola He Dola, Rongmon Macholoi Gol, Manuhe Manuhor Babe and others. Biswas and Hazarika jointly organized the third Assam conference of IPTA in 1955, when the likes of Balraj Sahni, Salil Chowdhury and Hemanta Mukherjee participated, among others.[9][10] Some of the famous plays presented by IPTA were Sonali Dhanani, Seujia Kuhipaat, Tofaan, Navaprabhat, Sapasalor Seka etc. and many shadow plays like Poharaloi, Amar Jatra, 15 Augustor Ahban and Tirut Singh.
In the 21st century, plays like Sadgati (Munshi Premchand), Dur Deshor Kotha, Kio (Phani Sarma), Arjun Tolir Dhumuha (Deb Kumar Saikia) and An Inspector Calls in 2019 directed by Prodyut Kumar Deka were staged in different parts of the State.[11][12] The Assam chapter celebrated the birth centenary of its founder secretary Hemango Biswas in 2012.[13] On the occasion of platinum jubilee of IPTA, the chapter organized a drama festival on 11–12 March 2019 at District Library, Guwahati. Two plays Laalchurni and Coffee Housot Apeksha (Laxmi Narayan Lal) respectively were staged during the two day event.[14][15]
Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor, artist, editor, filmmaker, professor and politician from Assam, widely known as Sudha Kontho. His songs were written and sung mainly in the Assamese language by himself, are marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many languages, most notably in Bengali and Hindi.
Hemanga Biswas was an Indian singer, composer, author and political activist, known for his literature in Bengali and Assamese, advocacy of peoples music, drawing from genres of folk music, including Bhatiali originally popular among the fishermen of Bengal.
Alipurduars Assembly constituency is an assembly constituency in Alipurduar district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Sudhin Dasgupta was a prolific Bengali music director, lyricist, and singer. He worked in various other Indian languages, such as Hindi, Assamese and Oriya. His contribution opened a new horizon to the Bengali music for both the arenas of Bengali basic song as well as Bengali film song.
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.
Byomkesh was a 2014 Indian Bengali crime fiction television series based on the Bengali sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. The series starred Gaurav Chakrabarty, Saugata Bandyopadhyay and Ridhima Ghosh as Byomkesh Bakshi, Ajit and Satyabati respectively. The series premiered on 20 November 2014 on Colors Bangla channel and ended on 14 November 2015. This series is re-runned on 4 March 2024. The first episode was narrated by Sabyasachi Chakrabarty.
Checkmate is an Indian Bengali television thriller series which aired on Star Jalsha from 21 January 2012 to 15 June 2012.
Aikyatan is a progressive drama group based in Guwahati in Assam founded by humor writer and film critic Pabitra Kumar Deka, historian and former principal of Cotton College Udayaditya Bharali, writer Anil Kumar Deka, noted editor of Assamese daily Asomiya Pratidin Nitya Bora and others in 1976. It has produced many memorable plays like Janani, Surjastak, Panchatantra, Sinhasan Khali, Hewers of Coal, Upahar, Night of January 16, and A Doll's House. The play Night of January 16th directed by National award-winning film director Sanjeev Hazarika was also performed for Guwahati Doordarshan on the occasion of World Theatre Day on 27 March 1990.
Goyenda Ginni was an Indian Bengali crime drama anthology television series that premiered on 7 September 2015 to 25 December 2016 and aired on Zee Bangla. It was produced by Shree Venkatesh Films, it starred Indrani Haldar, Saheb Chatterjee, Aditi Chatterjee and Indrajeet Bose. It marks the comeback of Haldar into Bengali television. It replaced the show Raage Anuraage. It got back in March 2020 due to COVID-19 situation. This Show is 4th time repeat telecast on Zee Bangla on 13 May 2024. It fetched a highest trp of 8.0.
Karunamoyee Rani Rashmoni was an Indian Bengali historical drama television series which aired on Bengali Entertainment Channel Zee Bangla and is also available on the digital platform ZEE5. It was premiered on 24 July 2017. The serial was earlier produced by Subrata Roy and then it was produced by Zee Bangla. It completed 1,000 episodes on its third birthday and 1,500 episodes on 26 December 2021. After a successful run of 4+1⁄2 years, Karunamoyee Rani Rashmoni went off-air on 13 February 2022.
Netaji is a Bengali biographical soap opera on the life of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose that premiered on 14 January 2019 and aired on Bengali GEC Zee Bangla. Based majorly on Udyata Kharga Subhash by Achintya Kumar Sengupta and produced by Surinder Films, the series stars Abhishek Bose in the eponymous role, with Basabdatta Chatterjee, marking her comeback on television, Dhruvajyoti Sarkar, Kaushik Chakraborty, Sriparna Roy, Debopriyo Sarkar, Sohan Bandopadhyay, Fahim Mirza appearing in other recurring roles. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shooting of the series was stalled. It was rumoured that along with Karunamoyee Rani Rashmoni, this series will be axed the channel. Putting rest to such rumours, the shooting started from June 11 and new episodes started to air from June 15, 2020.The show went off air on 1 st August 2020.
Nirmalendu Chowdhury was a Bengali musician, composer, lyricist and singer, who contributed significantly to the folk music of Eastern India, particularly of Bengal and Assam.
The West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Best Actor in a supporting Role is given yearly by WBFJA as a part of its annual West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards for Bengali films, to recognize the best actor of the previous year.
Jagaddhatri is an Indian Bengali language Romantic Thriller Drama television series that premiered from 29 August 2022 on Zee Bangla. The show is produced by Snehasish Chakraborty of Blues Productions and stars Ankita Mallick and Soumyadeep Mukherjee in lead roles.Currently,it is one of the most successful show of Bengali Television.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
