User:Avi Chakraborty

About Avi Chakraborty

Avi Chakraborty was born on 24th December 1980 in the refugee inhabited place called Ashokenagar in 24 Parganas (N). He lost his father quite early in his life. There was no inclination towards what is known as culture in his home. A graduate from Calcutta University in pure science at 2002. Avi was attracted towards theatre after he passed higher secondary. He thus got involved in theatre. Having formed his own theatre group to practice theatre, at the initial stages he was busy with the organization of his group. In 1999 he started Ashokenagar Natyamukh and at the same time started the theatre journal Nattyamukh Natyapatra. Avi started to reach many talented people in the world of theatre. Under the guise of taking interviews he tried to understand Bengali theatre. A different environment of theatre came in his group the centre of which was Nabhendu Sen. Avi started his career as theatre director in 2005 with Bratya Basu’s ‘Operation 2010’. Avi and his group increased their knowledge of theatre in the presence of Bratya Basu. Bartya Basu ignited in him the dream of professional and meaningful theatre. Dealing with the subject of Indian football this play created a new sensation among the spectators and critics. And in his very first play Avi gave attention to selecting actors according to the characters. He did not, however, keep himself confined to theatre practice within his own group. The next year, 2006, having been invited by the group Protikriti, Avi brought to stage a poem of Manik Bandopadhyay on his birth centenary. Through this poem Avi brought on stage ‘Dibaratrir Gadyo’ where he touched issues like land struggle, land measurement, rape of a farmer’s wife, and farmer suicide. But Singur and Nandigram were not yet famous places. The play had its premier show on 2nd September 2006. After that issues from the Naxalite Movement to the Maoist Movement in West Bengal came into one of Avi’s plays. The voice of a third space of politics came into the layers of this play. Adapted from a work by Abul Bashar this play is known as ‘Kagojer Nouko’. In 2009 he did Abinindranath’s ‘Shiladityo’ dramatized by Sourav Gupta. It was an open air production. Having dealt directly with politics Avi seemed to be trying to understand his time under the garb of mythology. Following this his biggest work was Rabindranath’s ‘Muktodhara’ in 2011. With his thirty youth actors and actresses, and with the editing of Subhashis Gangopadhyay, he launched the project on 11h May in 2011. Again he returned to Rabindranath, now not a play directly but a play from a story: ‘Konya Tor’. After this in 2014 Avi again returned to political theatre directly. He made the play ‘Nemesis’ from contemporary writer Rabisankar Bal’s story ‘Toimurer Shashoner Poroborti Odhyay’. For the first time he brought in Rock music into Bengali theatre. Breaking a conventional myth surrounding theatre Rupam Islam and his band Fossils created a new musical language in this play. Avi wants to break the conventional myth about dialogue, story and acting to create a different theatre language. Avi is deeply devoted in searching a communication language in contemporary theatre. Avi also directed 'Marachand' at Saithiya Wakeup(2015), Mrittyu iswar jounota at Ashokengar Bratyajan (2015)Sabas Sanku at Sisu Kishar Academi (2015), Bishchaya at Assansole Charjyapad(2013) other then his own group within the territory of Wes Bengal. Avi has always protected himself and his team from the type of theatre that is seen at district level theatre competitions. One of his major inspirations in this is Navendu Sen and Prabir Guha’s theatre. Besides theatre creation Avi is also involved in a major way in editing a theatre journal and writing. ‘Natyamukh Natyapatra’ has published 23 issues so far. Now Avi and his editorial team are busy with the documentation of 100 plays from the districts with the cooperation of Sangeet Natak Akademi. Avi has been awarded junior fellowship by Ministry of Culture, Govt of India on 2013-2015 for his excellent contribution towards theatre.He also awarded as journal editor by Ashokenagar Anwesha Natya Samman – 2000, Drishti Natya Samman – 2002, Dharani Ghosh Smriti Puroshkar – 2004 and Natadha Natya Samman – 2012. Besides, as a director Avi has received awards like Big Bangla Rising Star Award (2011), Protikriti Natya Samman (2011), Udichi Natya Samman (2012) and Charjapad Charukala Samman (2013). Avi has published two of his plays ‘Dibaratrir Gadya’ (2007) and ‘Bishchaya’ (2011) in book form. Avi’s play ‘Anyajanma’ has been published in Gobardanga Naksa’s Collection on Rabindranath. Avi has been involved in research for five years to figure out how theatre can be involved into everyday teaching and learning. He has reached many schools and colleges with his process. He framed a ‘media course’ that ran at Gour University for one year. One of the leading media houses in Bengal and India, ABP Group’s ‘The Telegraph’, honoured him with an award in 2013 in recognition of this work. Avi’s book ‘Abhimukh’ related to this will be launched in the Kolkata Book Fair next year.He left his job in an insurance company in 2011 and is now a full-time theatre worker and is a member of Pashchim Banga Natya Akademi. Avi dreams of theatre’s own space and own language.