Manoj Mitra, a doyen of the stage and the screen, passed away on Tuesday morning. He was 85.
Mitra was hospitalised on September 20 with breathing difficulties, sodium-potassium imbalance and other health complications. He was discharged in end-September but his health continued to deteriorate.
He died of age-related complications at 8.50am at a private hospital.
The Salt Lake resident leaves behind daughter Mayuri and brother Amar.
Beloved across generations for his portrayal of Banchharam in a play written by him, Sajano Bagan, which was later adapted for the screen by Tapan Sinha as Banchharamer Bagan, Mitra was a rare actor who transitioned from stage to screen as late as in his early 40s and straddled both worlds afterwards.
He was as prolific in mainstream films, like Anjan Chowdhury’s Shotru and Prabhat Roy’s Lathi, as he was proficient in parallel cinema works directed by Sinha, Satyajit Ray (Ghare Baire and Ganashatru), Tarun Majumdar (Bhalobasar Onek Naam), Basu Chatterjee (Hothat Brishti) and Buddhadeb Dasgupta (Grihajuddha).
Mitra’s “first love”, however, was writing plays and he would place his contribution as a playwright ahead of that as an actor or a director.
A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Best Playwright (1985), the Calcutta University Award for Best Playwright (1986), the West Bengal State Government Award for Best Playwright (1983 and 1989), Asiatic Society’s Gold Medal (2005) and Dinabandhu Purashkar (2012), among other accolades, Mitra leaves behind a repository of over 100 plays that continue to be staged by professional theatre groups as well as by amateurs at neighbourhood or office programmes.
A short story writer, he turned to plays at the instance of his friend Parthapratim Chowdhury, who, during their Scottish Church College years, asked him to write a one-act play for a competition.
The 21-year-old stayed up all night to produce Mrityur Chokhe Jal, which fetched awards in multiple contests. Chowdhury and other friends also founded the theatre group Sundaram, which Mitra joined and later ran.
He started his academic career teaching philosophy but soon joined the drama department at Rabindra Bharati University, from where he retired as Sisir Kumar Bhaduri professor of drama.
Mitra’s successful plays include Alokanandar Putra Kanya, Galpo Hekim Saheb, Ja Nei Bharatey, Chak Bhanga Madhu, Narak Guljar, Kenaram Becharam, Devi Sarpamasta, Munni O Saat Chowkidar and Aswatthama.
“After Utpal Dutt, he was the only Bengali theatre personality who was a playwright, a director and an actor at the same level. The plays written by him are outstanding. So fabulous was he in Sajano Bagan that one cannot think of anyone else directing the play or acting in it,” said art, theatre and film researcher Samik Bandyopadhyay, who has written an introduction to a compilation of Mitra’s myth-based plays, titled Ramayani Mahabharati.
Mitra is also the only playwright in Bengal, Bandyopadhyay stressed, who entered the field with his own writing.
“Sombhu Mitra, Utpal Dutt or Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay — all started with adaptations. If you look at the body and range of Mitra’s work as a playwright, he would be remembered as a major figure even if he did not act or direct,” he said, pointing to Mitra’s interpretations of mythology, his rich use of dialects and his focus on rugged and earthy realities from the margins.
“He was a major writer too, not just a playwright,” Bandyopadhyay said, referring to Mitra’s books on theatre.
He was the president of Paschimbanga Natya Akademi till he stepped down in 2019.
The upcoming Kolkata International Film Festival will pay tribute to Sinha on his centenary. “Yesterday, we were drawing up the list of invitees and Manoj babu’s name featured on top. His absence will be a major loss for us,” said Goutam Ghose, the festival chairman, who had directed Mitra in a short film titled Aain, based on a Banaphool story, for Doordarshan, and acted with him in Grihajuddha.
Several luminaries from the cultural world, including Jagannath and Urmimala Basu, Bratya Basu, Debesh Chattopadhyay and Debshankar Halder, paid their respects to Mitra at Rabindra Sadan, where his body lay in state.
The chief minister tweeted a tribute: “Saddened by the demise of the famous actor, director and playwright, ‘Banga Bibhushan’ Manoj Mitra today morning. He had been a leading personality in our theatre and film worlds and his contributions have been immense.”
Mitra, who donated his eyes, was cremated at Nimtala Ghat.