Soon, auditorium after Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay

An auditorium to be named after Bengal's one of the greatest theatre personality Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay is coming up in Dum Dum Nagerbazar.

The air-conditioned auditorium "Ajitesh Mancha" with a seating capacity of 545 will be opened on August 8. This is the first time when an auditorium in the state will be named after him. The auditorium will meet the long-standing demand of people of northern suburbs particularly Dum Dum, Nagerbazar, Kalindi and Lake Town. After coming to power, the state government had renovated all the auditoria in the city where cultural programmes including theatre shows are regularly held. There are ones after the names of great theatre personalities in the city that include Girish Chandra Ghose, father of Bengali stage, Khirod Prasad Vidyabinod and Ahindra Chowdhury and Sisir Bhaduri.

Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay (1933-1983) was one of the finest Bengali actors and director since Independence. He had received the Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1976 only after the age of 42. Before joining Nandikar, he was associated with IPTA. While with Nandikar, he along with Rudraprasad Sengupta, Asit Bandyopadhyay and Keya Chakraborty staged some of the finest plays that include Teen Poyeshar Pala, Antigone and Manjari Amer Manjari.

He had acted in several Bengali feature films that include Haate Bazare, Chuti, Kuheli, Ganadebata and Aj kal Porshur Golpo.

In 1977, Ajitesh left Nandikar and formed his own theatre group Nandimukh through which he had produced many immortal plays.