Nāṭyakalpa is a theatre magazine published annually by Kalyani Kalamandalam (KK), a renowned theatre group registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act 1961 (reg. The group, a brainchild of some energetic & creative young fellows exploring new directions in theatre, started its journey on 9 June 1995 at Kalyani, a beautifully planned city of culture & education located in the Nadia
district of West Bengal. KK is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in the year 2010–11. The group director is Santanu Das, a former student of the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi. KK has already published two issues of its mouthpiece, Nāṭyakalpa. The third issue has just been published in March 2011. Nāṭyakalpa has already been accepted & acclaimed among the theatre-lovers as a serious, research-oriented magazine. The inaugural issue of this bilingual (Anglo-Bengali) periodical was published in August 2004. Focussed mainly on folk theatre, this issue featured on a number of valuable essays by eminent writers and theatre experts. A folk play based on a classic Bengali novel was also included in the first issue. Since the very beginning the survival of the group’s dream project had been threatened due to lack of funds. The second issue, called Nāṭyakalpa–2, could be brought out in October 2009, five years after the launch. This issue was fully devoted to children’s theatre. This issue contained a number of serious & thought-provoking essays based on the role of theatre in educating schoolchildren, two complete child plays, and an interview on the necessity of children’s theatre with some theatre exponents of national & international fame. Printed on good-quality paper, this issue was edited with utmost care. The publication of this issue was part of the group’s mission to promote theatre not only as an art form but also as a medium of education. KK has just brought out Nāṭyakalpa–3. Published in March 2011, this issue is a special number based on the theatrical career of Soumitra Chatterjee. Although Chatterjee is a great stage personality, he is more popular as a National award–winning screen actor of international fame, who has starred in 300-odd Bengali & foreign-language films made by Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, Mrinal Sen, Nicolas Klotz, Florian Gallenberger, and a number of other great film-makers. A recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan honour of the Govt of India, he has also received the Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters from France and a lifetime-achievement award from Italy. As a theatre magazine, Nāṭyakalpa has been interested to focus on the less-explored side of the multifaceted career of this living legend: HIS THEATRE. The contents of this issue have been divided into different sections. The first section contains a long interview with the legend himself. The next section is a collection of essays written by Chatterjee on different aspects of the theatre as a performing art. The third & fourth sections include a number of serious, critical & analytical discussions on his stage career. The authors are some notable figures in the field of theatre, like the late Utpal Dutt, the late Tapas Sen, the late Dilip Roy, Koushik Sen, Dwijen Bandyopadhyay, Ashok Mukhopadhyay, Meghnad Bhattacharya, Madhabi Mukherjee, Dr Soumitra Basu, Jagannath Bose, Lily Chakraborty, among others. In the fifth & sixth sections we have the memoirs by his family members and friends. Among the contributors in these sections are his brothers, sister, son & daughter, and writers Sunil Gangopadhyay, Adrish Bardhan & Gour Mohan Mukherjee. Finally, there are a detailed family tree, an album of rare photographs, and an almost-complete list of the plays written, performed and/or directed by the maestro.Nāṭyakalpa has tried to maintain its quality in editing & production in order to make this special issue a collector’s number.
