The partition of the Indian subcontinent that uprooted millions of people, the Naxalite movement of Bengal, the tyranny of the ruling class, religious fundamentalism and other major issues are all that veteran playwright and actor Manoj has given us Mitra, died in Kolkata today at the age of 86 due to age-related complications.

It was perhaps natural that he took up the theme of Partition since Manoj was himself a victim of the vivisection of Bengal.

The son of a government servant, Manoj, born on December 22, 1938 in a village in Satkhira district of undivided Bengal, migrated from the erstwhile East Pakistan to India at the age of 12.

He did his master’s degree in philosophy in 1960.

Plays were performed in Manoj’s ancestral house during Durga puja, but children were not allowed to watch them. The sets, props, costumes and other items associated with staging plays stored at home ignited his passion for plays. During his college years in Calcutta, he wrote short stories and plays.

Manoj used satire, farce, and fantasies to amplify pressing and uncomfortable issues facing society, including politics.

His plays dealt with the struggle of the oppressed sections of society. Nothing could be a better example of this than his 1977 play “Bancharamer Bagan” which made him an inseparable part of the Bengali theater psyche. Manoj’s pieces bring out his vision of life: the darkest moments mixed with humor and a juxtaposition of gray and black.

Manoj had around a hundred one-act plays and feature films to his credit.

Some of his major plays include “Narak Guljar”, ​​“Aswathama”, “Chakbhanga Madhu”, “Mesh O Rakhash”, “Galpo Hakim Saheb”, “Rajdarshan”, “Alokandar Putra Kanya”, “Sajano Bagan”, “Chhayar Prashad’ and ‘Jene Shune Bish’. Among his major one-act plays are ‘Mrityur Chokhe Jal’, ‘Chokhe Angul Dada’, ‘Ami Madan Bolchi’, ‘Takshak’ and others.

One of the major traits of actor Manoj Mitra was that he could play the role much older than his actual age. This trait was noticed when he was only 21 years old. He smoothly transformed himself into an elderly man in his own play ‘Mrityur Chokhe Jal’ for which he won the first prize in a state-level competition.

This was also the turning point in his career as Manoj focused solely on acting.

Years later, Manoj replicated his ability to play a role well beyond his age in the film “Banchharamer Bagan”, adapted from his play “Sajano Bagan” (1977), when he essayed the role of a 90 year old protagonist when he was in his 40s. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the film.

Manoj, the playwright, was awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1985 and the Asian Society Award in 2005 for his overall contribution to theatre.

A professor of philosophy at a university, Manoj, along with his friends from the Scottish Church in Calcutta, established the theater troupe ‘Sundaram’ which he later directed for many years.

Manoj distinguished himself in the role of Banchharam in Tapan Sinha’s 1980 film “Banchharamer Bagan”, a black comedy about the oppression of peasants by zamindars, adapted from a play by Manoj.

Manoj has also acted in over 80 films, including Satyajit Ray’s ‘Ghare Baire’ (1984) and ‘Ganashatru’ (1989), Tapan Sinha’s ‘Adalat O Ekti Meye’ (1982) and ‘Wheel Chair’ (1995).

After the 1984 hit Bengali commercial film “Shatru” in which he essayed the role of a notorious leader, Manoj was reportedly offered the opportunity to act in Bollywood films, but he rejected the offer fearing that it would does not affect his engagement on stage. Manoj was awarded the Sangeet Natak Award (1985) and the Asian Society Award (2005) for his overall contribution to theatre, among many other awards.

Spanning the worlds of theater and cinema, Manoj joins the unforgettable legacy of Utpal Datta, Ajitesh Bandopadhaya and Shambhu Mitra as a playwright and actor oscillating between the two distinct mediums of art and communication with equal ease and consumed.