History And Mission Of NATYA SHODH SANSTHAN

Inauguration ceremony of NATYA SHODH SANSTHAN on 19 July 1981; Gita Sen singing Bangla theatre songs

Natya Shodh Sansthan began its journey at 11 Pretoria Street, Kolkata, on 19 July 1981, with Geeta Sen speaking on and demonstrating the musical tradition of Bengali theatre as part of the inaugural ceremony. The modest collection of a few journals, leaflets and diaries grew slowly but systematically, as NSS gathered priceless materials from various sources. By the time NSS moved to 4 Lee Road, nearby, in 1985, theatre lovers had become aware of its meaningful work, so that when NSS appealed to the Government of West Bengal to allot land for a building to house the archive, the Government readily leased nine cottahs in Bidhan Nagar (popularly known as Salt Lake) to Upchar Trust, where Upchar Trust and NSS constructed Natya Bhavan as its permanent home.

Debipada Bhattacharya inaugurating NATYA SHODH SANSTHAN on 19 July 1981 at Abhinav Bharati Bal Mandir, Kolkata

The eminent playwright Girish Karnad laid the foundation stone on 1 December 1996 and expressed his delight thus: “There is nothing like it in lndia now. . . . lt should have been done a long time ago.”

Girish Karnad laying the foundation stone

Natya Bhavan inauguration by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

With indefatigable efforts, in just three years, NSS completed its building, which was inaugurated by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, then Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal, on 12 August 2000.

The four-storey edifice was erected with funding from Upchar Trust, the Government of India, the Government of West Bengal, Ford Foundation and several other trusts and individuals, keeping room for future expansion. Generous assistance from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, enabled NSS to establish a theatre museum, which Pranab Mukhopadhyay, the former President of India, inaugurated on 25 August 2019.

Dr. Pratibha Agrawal with Pranab Mukhopadhyay, former President of India, Sri Jawhar Sarkar, and Prof. Sankha Ghosh, the then President of Natya Shodh Sansthan, during the inauguration of the NSS Museum.

From the Monochrome Era to the Radiant Present

Dr Pratibha Agrawal, one of the founding members and Director of NSS, once explained that the first 15 years were its formative period, as the cultural wing of Upchar Trust worked silently but steadily towards making the institution a true archive. Gradually, NSS earned credibility and trust—so much so that theatre giants like Manmatha Ray, Badal Sircar and Girish Karnad generously handed over their manuscripts to the archive. “We have grown very gradually over the years and are happy and proud that we have not been drawn into any controversy”, said Dr. Pratibha Agrawal.

NSS began its journey under the guidance of the founders, comprising Dr Pratibha Agrawal, Khaled Chowdhury, B.D. Sureka, Samik Bandyopadhyay, and Yama Shroff.

The position of President of NSS has been adorned by such luminaries as Samik Bandyopadhyay, Pabitra Sarkar, Kumar Roy, Manoj Mitra, Sankha Ghosh.

Personages Instrumental in Founding NATYA SHODH SANSTHAN

Anant Mahapatra Arambam Lokendra Singh Basabi Roy Bhanu Bharati Bhanushankar Mehta Bimal Jalan B. D. Sureka Divya Jalan Girish Karnad Govardhan Panchal Govind Prasad Agarwal Gyanwati

Gyaneshwar Prasad Agrawal Kamal Jalan Kamlseh Datta Tripathi Khaled Chowdhury Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya Kumar Roy Kunwar Narayan Mahendra Jalan Manjushri Chaki Sarkar Omkar Nath Agrawal P. L. Deshpande Pabitra Sarkar

Paul Jacob Pramod Shroff Dr Pratibha Agrawal Premlata Sharma Rajinder Nath Ramgopal Bagla Satyadev Dubey Samik Bandyopadhyay Shrawan Kumar Todi Shyamanand Jalan Vijay Tendulkar Vijaya Mehta Yama Shroff

NSS has Threefold Objectives:

The First, research, aims to add to its already rich library and valuable archive for the benefit of students, as well as work on research projects, hold seminars, arrange cultural events and document them.
The Second is to develop into an academic institution, supplementing higher education at the postgraduate and research levels by imparting specialized scholarly training using the rare and unique materials in its repository.
The Third, outreach, strives to widen its area of activities to reach common people in towns and villages outside the metropolis to make them aware of our performatory heritage and also learn from them in turn.