Chapal Bhaduri is the last living female impersonator in Bengali theatre and perhaps even in Indian theatre. He did female impersonation in Jatra, a form of Bengali folk theatre. In 2010, he starred in a Bengali Film '' Arekti Premer Golpo'' which was directed by Kaushik Ganguly and written by Ganguly and Rituparno Ghosh.

Early life

He was born at Kolkata's Kali Dutta lane, as the youngest child of Tara Kumar Bhaduri, a theatre actor and Prava Devi, a theatre and film actress. Later in 1939, his family moved to Badamtala Lane of Goabagan area of Kolkata. He had three brothers and two sisters. Noted actor and singer,

Ketaki Dutta Ketaki Dutta was an actor of Bengali theatre and films. She was also a singer. Chapal Bhaduri Chapal Bhaduri is the last living female impersonator in Bengali theatre and perhaps even in Indian theatre. He did female impersonation in J ...

is Bhaduri's youngest sister. With the backing of her mother, his acting career started at the age of only seven at ''Srirangam Theatre'' ow known as ''Biswarupa'' located at Northern Kolkatawhere he played the role of ''Apurba'' in Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's ''Bindur Chele''. Later in 1955, he performed in Bengali Theatre named ''Ali Baba'' where he played the female character of ''Marjina''.

Acting career

Theatre

His voice is very thin and soft and has a distinctly female tenor. After performing a female character in ''Ali Baba'' he was flooded with the female role in theatre. His performances in ''Raja Debidas'', ''Chand Bibi'', ''Sultana Razia'' and ''Mahiyashi Kaikeyi'' were big hits at that time and he became the leading lady of Bengal's jatra in the name of Chapalrani or Queen-Chapal. In the 1960s he was the highest paid 'actress' of Bengali Theatre. Chapal Bhaduri joined ''Natto Company'' in 1958. In the late sixties when women started to act in the theatre he found himself at a wrong end to cope up with the modern trend and he had to quit. In this time he worked with ''Kamala Production''. Later he started to play Goddess ''Ma Shitala''. His role in the semi-autobiographical ''Ramanimohan'', a play produced in 2006, was his first full-length role as a male character,

Film

He was seen in tele-film ''Ushnotar Jonne'' and the film '' Arekti Premer Golpo''. Both of these were directed by Kaushik Ganguly.

Depictions in popular culture

Chapal Bhaduri revived into fame after

Naveen Kishore Naveen Kishore is an Indian writer and theatre practitioner, In 1982 he founded Seagull Books publication in Kolkata. Early life Kishore, born in Kolkata on 17 January 1953, earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1973 before start ...

of the Seagull Foundation for the Arts had made a 44-minute documentary on the actor in 1999.

Performing the Goddess — The Chapal Bhaduri Story A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

focuses light on the man, who challenged financial penury to create a new performance — a monologue of Goddess Shitala. A tele-film ''Ushnotar Jonne'', directed by Kaushik Ganguly also depicts part of his life. In this telefilm he made a cameo appearance. The third one is '' Arekti Premer Golpo'' (Just Another Love Story) (Bengali-English), a feature film directed by Kaushik Ganguly in which he narrates his life on camera.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhaduri, Chapal 1938 births Living people Male actors from Kolkata Bengali theatre personalities Indian male stage actors 20th-century Indian male actors