Badal Sarkar

Though his early comedies were popular, it was his angst-ridden Evam Indrajit (And Indrajit) that became a landmark play in Indian theatre. Today, his rise as a prominent playwright in 1960s is seen as the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Bengali, just as Vijay Tendulkar did it in Marathi, Mohan Rakesh in Hindi, and Girish Karnad in Kannada. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1968 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in the performing arts by Govt. Of India, in 1997.

Badal Sarkar studied at University of Calcutta, Scottish Church College and Jadavpur University. The recorded working language is Bangla. The field of work recorded is drama, theatre and directing. Residence is recorded at Maniktala. Distinctions recorded are Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Padma Shri in literature and education, Jawarharlal Nehru Fellowship and Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

• Name — Badal Sircar • Born — 15 July 1925 • Birthplace — Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India • Died — 13 May 2011 • Place of death — Kolkata, West Bengal, India • Occupation — playwright, theatre director • Notable Works — Evam Indrajit (And Indrajit) (1963) Pagla Ghoda (Mad Horse) (1967) • Awards — 1968 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1972 Padma Shri 1997 Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship • Years Active — 1945–2011 • Birth Name — Sudhindra Sircar

Badal Sircar, whose real name was 'Sudhindra Sarkar', was born in Calcutta, India to a Bengali Christian family. He was initially schooled at the Scottish Church Collegiate School. After transferring from the Scottish Church College, where his father was a history professor, he studied civil engineering at the Bengal Engineering College (now IIEST), Shibpur, Howrah then affiliated with the University of Calcutta. In 1992, he finished his Master of Arts degree in comparative literature from Jadavpur University in Calcutta.

While working as a town planner in India (at Damodar Valley Corporation), England and Nigeria, he entered theatre as an actor, moved to direction, but soon started writing plays, starting with comedies. Badal Sirkar did experiments with theatrical environments such as stage, costumes and presentation and established a new genre of theatre called "Third Theatre". In Third Theatre approach, he created a direct communication with audience and emphasised on expressionist acting along with realism. He started his acting career in 1951, when he acted in his own play, Bara Trishna, performed by Chakra, a theatre group. Eventually still employed in Nigeria, he wrote his landmark play Ebong Indrajit (And Indrajit) in 1963, which was first published and performed in 1965 and catapulted him into instant fame, as it captured "the loneliness of post-Independence urban youth with dismaying accuracy". He followed them with plays like Baaki Itihaash (Remaining History) (1965), Pralap (Delirium) (1966), Tringsha Shatabdi (Thirtieth Century) (1966), Pagla Ghoda (Mad Horse) (1967), Shesh Naai (There's No End) (1969), all performed by Sombhu Mitra's Bohurupee group. In 1967, he formed the "Shatabdi" theatre group, and the first production he directed was Ebang Indrajit in 1967, a play about three people – Amal, Bimal, Kamal and a loner Indrajit. In the next five years of its existence the troupe performed several of his plays and had a profound impact on contemporary theatre, especially after 1969 when it started performing plays both indoors and outside amidst people, and evolved the angan manch (courtyard stage) and inspired by the direct communication techniques of Jatra rural theatre form, to eventually become his "Third Theatre", a protest against prevalent commercial theatre establishment. Often performed in "found" spaces rather than rented theatre halls, without elaborate lighting, costumes or make-up, where audience was no longer a passive, rather became participatory, it added a new realism to contemporary dramaturgy, retaining thematic sophistication of social committed theatre all the while, and thus started a new wave of experimental theatre in Indian theatre. In 1976, his group "Satabdi", started performing at Surendranath Park (then Curzon Park) Kolkata on weekends. These open-air and free performances led to his troupe travelling to nearby villages on other weekends, where it employed minimal props and improvised dialogues to involve audience further into the performance. Though he continued to hold his job till 1975, as a playwright he rose to prominence in the 1970s and was one of the leading figures in the revival of street theatre in Bengal. He revolutionised Bengali theatre with his wrath-ridden, anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite movement. His plays reflected the atrocities that prevailed in the society, the decayed hierarchical system and were socially enlightening. He is a proponent of the "Third theatre" movement that stood ideologically against the state. Third theatre involved street plays, with actors being attired no differently than the audience. Also the formal bindings of the proscenium theatre was given up. Sarkar's "Bhoma" is an example of a third theatre play, set as always, in an urban background. Starting with Sagina Mahato, which marked his advent into arena stage, his subsequent plays, Michhil (Juloos), Bhoma, Basi Khobor, Spartacus based on Howard Fast's historical novel by the same name, were performed in parks, street corners and remote villages with the audience sitting all around. Sircar directed his last play in 2003, and after that his movements were restricted after a road accident, but even many years later till 2011 he continued performing at play readings and writing new works like adapting William Shakespeare's Macbeth, two stories by Graham Greene and a novel, History of Love. Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awarded the prestigious 'Ammannur Puraskaram' in 2010 for his lifetime achievements in Indian Theatre. The award was presented to him by Girish Karnad during the inaugural function of 3rd edition of International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK).

Sarkar was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2011. He died on 13 May at Kolkata at the age of 85.

Sarkar is the subject of two documentaries, one directed by filmmaker and critic, Amshan Kumar, and another A Face in the Procession by Sudeb Sinha, which was shot over two years.

• Evam Indrajit (And Indrajit) (1963) • Basi Khabar • Baaki Itihaash (Remaining History) (1965) • Pralap (Delirium) (1966) • Tringsha Shatabdi (Thirtieth Century) (1966) • Pagla Ghoda (Mad Horse) (1967) • Shesh Naai (There's No End) (1969) • Spartacus • “Ram, Shyam, Jadu” • Prastava • Michhil (Procession) • Bhoma • Solution X • Baropishima • Saara Raattir • Baro Pisima • Kabi Kahini • Manushe Manushe • Hottomalar oparey • Bollovpurer rupkatha • Sukhapathya bharoter itihash(Indian History Made Easy) • Gondi (adaptation from 'Caucasian Chalk Circle' by Bertolt Brecht) • Nadite Dubiye Dao (Adaptation from 'We come to the river' by Edward Bond) • Sinri • bagh • Ka Cha Ta Ta Pa (A satire) • Bagala Charit Manas • Ore Bihanga • Dwirath • Manushe Manushe • Janmavumi Aaj (A poetry Monaz) • Mara-Saad • Choruivati (An adaptation from "Picnic in the Battlefield" by Fernando Arrabal)

• The Third Theatre. Pub. Sircar, 1978 • The changing language of Theatre (Azad memorial lectures). Pub. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), 1982.

• Evam Indrajit: Three-act Play. tr. by Girish Karnad. Oxford University Press. 1975.. • Three plays: Procession, Bhoma, Stale news. tr. by Samik Bandyopadhyay. Seagull. 1983. • Beyond the Land of Hattamala & Scandal in Fairyland. tr. by Suchanda Sarkar. Seagull Books, 2003.. • Two Plays: Indian History Made Easy, Life of Bagala, tr. by Subhendu Sarkar. OUP, 2009.. • Pagala Ghoda, tr. in Marathi by Amol Palekar