Suresh Dutta is an Indian puppet artist, theatre personality and the founder of

Calcutta Puppet Theatre Calcutta Puppet Theatre is a Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the langu ...

, a Kolkata-based theatre group dedicated to puppetry. Born in Faridpur, in the undivided

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

of the

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, he trained art under Phani Bhushan, a Jatra exponent, and Kathakali under Balakrishna Menon. He has also learnt fusion style of danceform from maestro Uday Shankar. He also learnt

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...

and Manipuri before moving to Russia, under a scholarship in 1962, to train in puppetry under the Russian puppeteer,

Sergey Obraztsov Sergey Vladimirovich Obraztsov (russian: Серге́й Влади́мирович Образцо́в, 5 July ( O.S. 22 June), 1901 – 8 May 1992) was a Soviet and Russian puppeteer who is credited by the Encyclopædia Britannica with "establish ...

. Returning to India in 1963, he joined the Children's Little Theatre, under the behest of Balakrishna Menon, as the assistant dance director, where he also designed costumes and sets. A decade later, he founded his own puppet theatre group,

, along with his wife, Devi, and a few like-minded artists. The group staged several shows, beginning with the ''Alladin'', followed by ''Ramayana'', ''Sita'', ''Gulabo aar Sitabo'' and ''Notun Jeebon'', totaling over 3,000 shows. He received the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

in 1987. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, in 2009, for his contributions to puppetry.

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* * Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from West Bengal Indian puppeteers Indian theatre people Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Living people {{India-bio-stub

See also

References

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