Gopal Chhotray

Gopal Chhotray Biography

Gopal Chhotray was a theatre personality from Puranagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, known for his significant contributions to Odia theater in the 20^th century. Widely regarded as one of the chief architects of modern Oriya theatre, he introduced several significant changes in the morphology of Oriya plays, both in theme and structure, and also adapted the works of many leading Odia writers for his stage plays. He played a magnificent role in the establishment of Odia theater, by creating a style of its own, quite different from Bengali theater. In fact his role to save Odia theater from the grip of Bengali art and theater is worth praising.

He was born in 1916 in Puranagarh, Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha during British rule. He dominated the Oriya professional theatre for more than three decades. As a playwright, Pheria in 1946 was his first written play. In total he authored 15 original stage plays and also adapted 8 famous Oriya novels. Most of his stage plays were huge success in long run, and placed his name among the architects of modern Odia theater. He was honoured with Padma Shri by government of India, and he was also a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award. Hasyarasara Nataka is his notable work.

He was also associated with All India Radio, Cuttack since its inception in 1948. During his early days, he worked as a freelancer writer with AIR. Since 1956, he joined as an in-house script writer, a profession he carried for the next two decades till 1975. During his association with AIR, he wrote more than 500 radio plays, and during those glorious years of radio stations when television and cable network didn’t come into exist, his plays entertained Odia people for many years through the medium of radio. He also revived rural opera through the medium of radio plays. His son Devdas Chhotray follows his legacy, and is an Odia author, administrator and academician.

Published: July 18, 2018

Updated: July 18, 2018