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Bijon Bhattacharya and His Theatre
The year 2015 marks the birth centenary of Bijon Bhattacharya, the radical playwright and actor from Bengal. He was born in Faridpur District of eastern Bengal, now in Bangladesh. He came to Kolkata in 1930, got involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement led by Gandhi, and discontinued his studies in the BA course at Ripon College. He found a job in Anandabazar Patrika in the late 1930s. However, he was attracted to the Communist Party of India and got membership of the party in 1942.
The year 2015 marks the birth centenary of Bijon Bhattacharya, the radical playwright and actor from Bengal. He was born in Faridpur District of eastern Bengal, now in Bangladesh. He came to Kolkata in 1930, got involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement led by Gandhi, and discontinued his studies in the BA course at Ripon College. He found a job in Anandabazar Patrika in the late 1930s. However, he was attracted to the Communist Party of India and got membership of the party in 1942. He left his job and became a party whole-timer and member of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA).
Bijon Bhattacharya’s play, Nabanna (New Crop/Harvest), written in the context of the Bengal famine of 1943, transformed the grammar of Bengali playwriting and acting. It was first staged in October 1944 under the banner of the IPTA. Bhattacharya himself acted in a lead role and co-directed it with Shambhu Mitra, another legendary Bengali theatre personality.
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