Thespian quits govt bodies

KOLKATA: In a move that left the state’s cultural arena surprised, playwright, actor and filmmaker Debesh Chattopadhyay resigned from his post in the Paschmi Banga Natya Akademi, the Minerva Repertory Theatre and Natya Swajan on Wednesday. While the akademi is a government-controlled body, the other two are theatre group platforms managed and controlled by the ruling party.
Though he cited personal reasons for the decision, those in theatre circles believe he was peeved with the functioning of the bodies. In November, theatre personality Manish Mitra, too, had quit Natya Swajan.
“I believe my inputs are not sufficient to make any significant difference to their functioning. So, I have decided to resign from all the three bodies,” Chattopadhyay said.
He did not hide the fact that he had reservations about the way the three bodies were being made to function. “I don’t quite agree with the way they are working,” said Chattopadhyay.
He added that he didn’t find any of the three bodies that he quit to be helping group theatre in Bengal. “Ideally, we need such bodies and they could help theatre. But in reality, that has not been happening,” he lamented.
State tourism minister and theatre personality Bratya Basu refused to comment on Chattopadhyay’s exit. “It is his personal decision and I have nothing to say,” Basu said.