Sombhu Mitra (22 August 1915 – 19 May 1997) was an Indian film and stage actor, director, playwright, reciter and an

Indian theatre Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian theatre is also defin ...

personality, known especially for his involvement in

Bengali theatre Bengali theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Bengali language. Bengali theatre is produced mainly in West Bengal, and in Bangladesh. The term may also refer to some Hindi theatres which are accepted by the Bengali people. Ben ...

, where he is considered a pioneer. He remained associated with the

Indian People's Theatre Association Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultur ...

(IPTA) for a few years before founding the ''Bohurupee'' theatre group in Kolkata in 1948. He is most noted for films like ''

Dharti Ke Lal ''Dharti Ke Lal'' ( ''Children of the Earth'') is a 1946 Hindustani film, the first directorial venture of the noted film director Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (K. A. Abbas). It was jointly written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Bijon Bhattacharya, based on ...

'' (1946), ''

Jagte Raho ''Jagte Raho'' () is a 1956 Bollywood/ Bengali film, directed by Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and produced by and starring Raj Kapoor. The film centers on the trials of a poor villager (Kapoor) who comes to a ci ...

'' (1956), and his production of ''Rakta Karabi'' based on Rabindranath Tagore's play in 1954 and ''Chand Baniker Pala'', his most noted play as a playwright. In 1966, the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and be ...

awarded him its highest award, the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also known as Akademi Ratna Sadasyata, is an Indian honour for the performing arts presented by Sangeet Natak Academy. It is "the most prestigious and rare honour" conferred by the Academy and is "restricte ...

for lifetime contribution, then in 1970, he was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

, India's third highest civilian honour, and in 1976 the

Ramon Magsaysay Award The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealis ...

Early life and education

Born in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(now

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

), India, on 22 August 1915, Sombhu Mitra was the sixth child of three sons and four daughters born of Sarat Kumar Mitra, an employee of the Geological Survey of India, and Satadalbasini Mitra. His mother died when he was 12 years old.Biography of Sombhu Mitra
The 1976

website. He started his schooling in Chakraberia Middle English School, Calcutta and later continued in the Ballygunge Government High School, Calcutta, where he developed interest reading Bengali plays and became active in school dramatics. He joined St. Xavier's College of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

in 1931, and soon started attending the local theatre.

Career

His first appearance in

was in Rangmahal Theatre in north Kolkata in 1939, thereafter he moved to the Minerva, Natyaniketan and Srirangam theatres. In 1943, he joined

(IPTA). In 1944, several old theatrical conventions were broken when the play ''Nabanna'' written by

Bijon Bhattacharya Bijon Bhattacharya ( bn, বিজন ভট্টাচার্য; 17 July 1906 – 19 January 1978) was an Indian theatre and film actor from West Bengal. He was an eminent playwright and dramatist. Bhattacharya was born in 1906 at Farid ...

and co-directed by Sombhu Mitra for IPTA was staged. In 1948, Sombhu Mitra formed a new theatre group,

Bohurupee Bohurupee is a Bengali premier theatre group. Bohurupee was founded in 1948 by several active members who left the Indian People's Theatre Association. The group was created to present the experimental Bengali drama in unusual form. Early days ...

in Kolkata, which ushered in the group-theatre movement in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. He married

Tripti Mitra Tripti Mitra (''née'' Bahaduri; 25 October 1925 – 24 May 1989) was a popular Indian actress of Bengali theatre and films, and wife of Sombhu Mitra, noted theatre director, with whom she co-founded pioneering theatre group ''Bohurupee'' in 19 ...

née Bhaduri, who was also a celebrated personality in the

. Their daughter, Shaoli was a noted actress, director and playwright.

The Bohurupee productions

Under Sombhu Mitra's direction, the Bohurupee staged several successful productions. In December 1950, the Bohurupee presented three plays in the New Empire theatre –

Tulsi Lahiri Tulsi Lahiri (7 April 1897 – 22 June 1959) was a Bengali actor, director and play writer. Early life Lahiri was born in 1897 in a zamindar family of Naldanga village, Rangpur of British India. He passed B.A and B.L and started his lawyer caree ...

's ''

Pathik Gunanand Dangwal (1914 or 1915 – 2000), better known by his nom de plume Pathik was an Indian freedom fighter who played a leading role in the Tehri uprising. He is known for his translation of Ramayana to ''Garhwali Ramayana'' (called ''Garh ...

'' and ''

Chenda Tar The Chenda ( ml, ചെണ്ട, ) is a cylindrical percussion instrument originating in the state of Kerala and widely used in Tulu Nadu of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in India. In Tulu Nadu (Coastal Karnataka), it is known as ''chende''. ...

'' and Sombhu Mitra's own creation, '' Ulukhagra''. In 1954,

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's ''

Rakta Karabi Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...

'' was staged by the Bohurupee, followed by his ''

Bisarjan ''Bisarjan'' is a 2012 Bengali drama directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay. The play is based on Rabindranath Tagore's ''Bisarjan'' (1890). Plot Tagore's work was on how humans lost out their paradise trying to satisfy a god who wanted for animal sacr ...

'', ''

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

'' and '' Char Adhyay''. Other notable productions include Bidhyak Bhattacharya's ''

Tahar Namti Ranjana Tahar may refer to: People with the surname *Amor Ben Tahar (born 1969), retired Tunisian football player * Arcandra Tahar (born 1970), 5th Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia (2016-), 16th Minister of Energy and Miner ...

'' and '' Kanchanranga''. Under his direction, this group also presented the Bengali adaptations of several well-known dramas from the world stage.

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's ''Putul Khela'' (Doll's House), ''Dashachakra'' (An Enemy of the People) and Sophocles' ''Raja Oidipaus'' (Oedipus Rex) are notable amongst them. He has also acted in The Life of Galileo by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

directed by

Fritz Bennewitz Fritz Bennewitz (20 January 1926 – 13 September 1995) was a German theatre director. Life Bennewitz was born in Chemnitz. His father was a train driver: his mother worked as a seamstress. Between 1950 and 1953 he was a student of German st ...

in the title role. In these productions he performed as ''Rahimuddin'' in ''Chenda Tar'', ''Atin'' in ''Char Adhyay'', ''Binod'' in ''Ulukhagra'', ''Tapan'' in ''Putul Khela'', ''Dr. Purnendu Guha'' in ''Dashachakra'', ''Oidipaus'' in ''Raja Oidipaus''. He died in Kolkata.

Filmography

Sombhu Mitra performed in several movies in Bengali and Hindi. The notable among them are: * ''

'' (1946) (Hindi) * ''Abhiyatri'' (1947) (Bengali) * ''Dhatri Debata'' (1948) (Bengali) * ''Abarta'' (1949) (Bengali) * 42'' (1949) (Bengali) * ''Hindustan Hamara'' (1950) (Hindi) * ''Pathik'' (1953) (Bengali) * ''

Bou Thakuranir Haat ''Bou Thakuranir Haat'' is a Bengali drama film directed by Naresh Mitra based on a novel of Rabindranath Tagore in the same name, published in 1883. This film was released in 1953 in the banner of Emar Productions. Plot The film is based on t ...

'' (1953) (Bengali) * ''Maharaj Nandakumar'' (1953) (Bengali) * ''Maraner Pare'' (1954) (Bengali) * ''Shivashakti'' (1954) (Bengali) * ''Durlabh Janma'' (1955) (Bengali) *

Manik (1961) ''Manik'' is a Bengali drama movie released in 1961, directed by Bijalibaran Sen in the banner of ''Chalachitra Prayas Sanstha''. V. Balsara scored the music of the movie. This film was based on '' Oliver Twist'', the famous 1838 novel of Charl ...

(Bengali) * ''Suryasnan'' (1962) (Bengali) * ''Panna'' (1967) (Bengali) * ''Natun Pata'' (1969) (Bengali) * ''Nishachar'' (1971) (Bengali) He wrote the story and screenplay of ''

'' (1956) and also co-directed it along with Amit Maitra. He also directed a Bengali movie, ''Shubha Bibaha'' in 1959.

Major works

* ''Abhinay Natak Mancha'' (in Bengali) (1957) * ''Sanmarga-Saparya'' (in Bengali) * ''Natak Raktakarabi'' (in Bengali) * ''Chandbaniker Pala'' (in Bengali)

Honours and awards

Sombhu Mitra received many national and international awards, which include the Crystal Globe for ''

'' at the 1957

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

, the ''Desikottama'' from

Visva Bharati University Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the w ...

in 1989, an honorary D. Litt. from both

Rabindra Bharati University Rabindra Bharati University is a public research university in Kolkata, India. It was founded on May 8, 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal in 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. ...

and

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...

in Kolkata, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1976 for journalism, literature and creative communication arts and the Padmabhushan in the same year. He received the

in 1966. For his contribution in the movies, he won the Grand-Prix Award at the

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Government honoured him with ''

Kalidas Samman The Kalidas Samman ( hi, कालिदास सम्मान) is an arts award presented annually by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India. The ...

'' (1982–83).A thespian who touched dizzy heights

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

, 20 May 1997 ;

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

* 1956 – Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Bengali – ''Ek Din Ratre''

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Sombhu 1915 births 1997 deaths 20th-century Indian film directors Hindi-language film directors Indian male film actors Male actors in Hindi cinema Male actors in Bengali cinema Indian People's Theatre Association people Indian male dramatists and playwrights Indian theatre directors Film directors from Kolkata St. Xavier's College, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Bengali theatre personalities 20th-century Indian male actors 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Male actors from Kolkata Screenwriters from Kolkata Bengali screenwriters 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian screenwriters Dramatists and playwrights from West Bengal