Calcutta recently saw a campaign that demanded a theatre named after Nati Binodini, the prima donna of Bengali stage in its early years. Her mentor was Girish Chandra, the first legend of modern Bengali theatre. It has been over a century but still we have not gotten over the song: “Chhi chhi etta janjal...”Kusumkumari is said to bethe first woman dance director on the Bengali stage. The death of Girish Chandra in 1912 ended an epoch in Bengali theatre. After the war, from the 1920s, Sisir Kumar Bhaduri became the dominating presence in Bengali theatre.

Source: The Telegraph July 16, 2023 12:50 UTC