Shyamanand Jalan Biography 
Shyamanand Jalan was an Indian thespian, theatre director, and actor from Kolkata. He is credited for the renaissance period of modern Indian theatre who played a significant role in the Kolkata theatre since 1960’s for the next three decades. He received the 1972 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Direction. He co-founded theatre group Anamika in 1955, impresario organisation Anamika Kala Sangam in 1967, and in 1972 founded his own Padatik theatre group. He remained its director till the end of his life. He started a school for Classical and Contemporary Dance in Kolkata in 1989 and named it Padatik Dance Cente. He has also served as the vice chairman of Sangeeth Natak Academy for 5 years during the period – 1999 to 2004.
He was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar on 13 January 1934 to a Bengal based family. His father Ishwari Prasad Jalan was a solicitor by profession who later joined politics. Jalan studied law at the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta and started practising law. Then he headed a legal firm in Kolkata. At the same time, he was active in theatre. He started his acting career with play Naya Samaj in 1949. He also acted in Tarun Roy’s Samasya (1951). Very soon he entered direction field starting with Hindi play - Ek Thi Rajkumari in 1953. Konark (1954) and Chandragupta (1955) were his next two works. In parallel, he concentrated on to his acting skills as well.
He was the first theatre director to recognize the plays of Mohan Rakesh. It happened with Ashadh Ka Ek Din in 1960. Lehron Ke Rajhans, Adhe Adhure, Ashi Pakhare Yeti, Evam Indrajit and Pagla Ghora are other noted plays directed by Jalan. In 2011, a retrospective-homage by Padatik as a tribute to Jalan showcased at Kamani Auditorium, Delhi which showed his 5 plays representing each decade - Madhavi (2006), Ramkatha Ram-Kahani (1995), Adhey Adhurey (1983) and Sakharam Binder (1978).
Published: N/A
Updated: March 05, 2014
