Paschim Banga Natya Akademi

Last updated

Paschim Banga Natya Akademi
AbbreviationNatya Akademi
Formation26 September 1987;36 years ago (1987-09-26) [1]
HeadquartersNatya Bhaban, Kolkata
Location
Region served
West Bengal, Tripura
Official language
Bengali
Parent organisation
Department of Culture and Information Affairs, West Bengal Government

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. [2] [3]

Contents

Overview

The Natya Akademi conducts annual theatre festivals, seminars, public lectures, training workshops and publishes research works and books on Bengali drama. It confers Dinabandhu Puraskar and Girish Puraskar, two of the most prestigious theatre awards in the state, for production playwriting, acting, direction, stagecraft and design, and music.[ citation needed ]

The Natya Akademi owns a number of theatre halls including Academy of Fine Arts (Lady Ranu Mukherjee Mancha), Bijon Theatre, Girish Mancha, Jogesh Mime Akademi, Madhusudan Mancha, Mahajati Sadan, Muktangan Rangalaya, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Sujata Sadan, Tapan Theatre and University Institute Hall. [4]

The Natya Akademi publishes Natya Akademi Patrika , an annual journal featuring academic essays, lectures, obituaries, play scripts, archival reprints, reports etc. It has also produced classics including William Shakespeare's Chaitali Rater Swapno (directed by Utpal Dutt), Girish Chandra Ghosh's Balidan (directed by Ashoke Mukhopadhyay) and Rabindranath Tagore's Chirakumar Sabha (directed by Bibhash Chakrabarty) etc.[ citation needed ]

Presidents
  • Manmath Roy, 1987–88
  • Debnarayan Gupta, 1889-2000
  • Gnanesh Mukhopadhyay, 2000-2006
  • Kumar Roy, 2000-

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabindra Sadan</span> Cultural centre and theatre in Kolkata, India


Rabindra Sadan is a cultural centre and theatre complex in Kolkata, India. It is located on Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road in South Kolkata. It is noted for its large stage which is a prime venue for Bengali theatre and Kolkata Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi</span> Bangla language authority in India

The Pashchimbanga Bangla Akademi is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in West Bengal, India. It was founded on 20 May 1986 in Kolkata to act as the official authority of the language and is entrusted with the responsibility of reforming Bengali spelling and grammar, compiling dictionaries, encyclopedias and terminologies and promoting Bengali language and culture in West Bengal. Though the Akademi has no enforcement power over their rules and regulations, they are widely accepted by the Governments of West Bengal and Tripura as well as a considerable number of private publishing houses and institutions such as the Oxford University Press and the Ramakrishna Mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay</span> Indian novelist (1898–1971)

Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. He was awarded Rabindra Puraskar, Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. He was nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 and posthumously nominated in 1972.

The Rabindra Puraskar is the highest honorary literary award given in the Indian state of West Bengal. This award is named after the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and is administered by the Government of West Bengal under the aegis of the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy, Kolkata.The award is given for creative literature, non-fiction and books about Bengal in Bengali as well as other languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudraprasad Sengupta</span> Indian actor

Rudraprasad Sengupta is a Bengali Indian actor, director and cultural critic.

Ekram Ali is an Indian Bengali poet and critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bratya Basu</span> Indian actor, playwright, author, and politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manoj Mitra</span> Indian actor, director and playwright

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.

Paschimbanga or Paschim Bangla is the endonym of West Bengal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swatilekha Sengupta</span> Bengali actress (1950–2021)

Swatilekha Sengupta was a Bengali actress. She had received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to Indian theatre as an actor.

Sujata Sadan is a theatre auditorium in Kolkata, West Bengal. The theatre auditorium is located at 107 Harish Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700026.

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".

Bankim Puraskar is the highest award given by the Government of West Bengal for contribution to Bengali fiction. The award was instituted in 1975 in memory of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, a famous Bengali novelist of the 19th century. It has been brought under the aegis of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, functioning under the Department of Information & Cultural Affairs, in 2003. The award is handed over by the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Kumar Roy (1926–2010) was a Bengali theatre actor, director and playwright. In 1983 he won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He was associated with the group Bohurupee. In 1989 he directed the re-creation of the classic play Nabanna (1948). He was the President of the PashchimBanga Natya Akademi from 2006 till his death in 2010. Kumar Roy was also Professor of Drama at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata and Visiting Professor at Sangeet Bhavan, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debesh Chattopadhyay</span> Indian actor, film and theatre director

Debesh Chattopadhyay is an Indian Bengali film & theatre director and actor. He has also acted in a few Bengali films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinmoy Guha</span>

Chinmoy Guha is Professor Emeritus at the University of Calcutta, a Bengali essayist and translator, and a scholar of French language and literature. He has served as the Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University and Director of Publications, Embassy of France, New Delhi. Earlier he taught English at Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College in Kolkata for more than two decades, and French at the Alliance Française and the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture for eleven and five years respectively.

Dwijen Bandyopadhyay was a veteran Bengali actor and theater personality from West Bengal, India. He worked onstage from the 1970s. Bandyopadhyay has also been a professor in the department of Drama at Rabindra Bharati University from 1996 to 2014.

Afsar Amed was an Indian Bengali writer. He wrote 27 novels and 24 other books.

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.

References

  1. Sharma, Shib, ed. (2008). Eknajare Paschim Banga Natya Akademir 25 Bochhor[25 Years of Paschim Banga Natya Akademi at a Glance] (in Bengali) (1st ed.). Kolkata: Paschim Banga Natya Akademi. p. 9.
  2. "About Paschimbanga Natya Akademi". PNA. 2007–2008. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  3. "Art and Culture of West Bengal - Egiye Bangla". Department of Information & Cultural Affairs (I&CA), Government of West Bengal. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  4. "House Show, Paschimbanga Natya Akademi". PNA. 2007–2008. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2011.