Bratya Basu
Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor, educationist and politician who has been the Education Minister of West Bengal since 2021. He held the same office in the First Mamata Banerjee ministry. In May 2016, Basu was assigned the portfolios of Tourism, Science Technology and Bio-Technology, and Information Technology and Electronics. He has been an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly, from the Dum Dum constituency, since the 2011 Assembly Election of West Bengal. Basu is presently the Chairperson of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi and Minerva Natyasanskriti Charchakendra under the governance of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, West Bengal.
Early life
Bratya Basu was born in Calcutta to Professor Dr. Bishnu Basu and Educational Administrator Dr. Neetika Basu. His original name was Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury. After his graduation in Bengali from the Presidency College, he completed his postgraduate education at the University of Calcutta.Career
Bratya Basu started his career as a sound operator for the theatre group Ganakrishti and soon started writing and directing plays with the group. The themes of his writings focus on political fantasy, nature-human relationships, the connection between music and life, ethical values and their lack, the conflict between love and revolt, and the bonding between time and culture. Bratya Basu joined City College, Kolkata as an assistant professor in the Department of Bengali. He launched his career as a dramatist with the play Ashaleen, described by theatre critics as the first postmodernist Bengali play. His noted plays thereafter include Aranyadeb, Shahar Yaar, Virus-M, Winkle-Twinkle, etc. His other important plays include Ruddhasangeet, Chatushkon, Hemlat - the Prince of Garanhata, Krishna Gahobar, Sateroi July, Bikele Bhorer Sorshey Phool, Supari Killer, Boma etc. A compilation of his plays has been published in four volumes in 2004, 2010, 2016 and 2022 respectively. He has directed four films– Raasta, which has a theme of youth moving into terrorism, Teesta, a film on society and the failure of romance, Tara, and Dictionary. He has acted in many films, including Kaalbela, Icchey, Sthaniyo Sambad, Hemlock Society, Muktodhara, Double Feluda, Baranda, Jogajog, Kalkijug, Asamapta, and Dhulobali Katha. Basu has received many awards and recognitions. Some of them include the Shambhu Mitra Samman 2016, conferred by Rajdanga Dyotak, Shrestha Natya Nirman 2017, conferred by Anya Theatre, Khaled Choudhury Samman 2017, conferred by Abhash, Dakshin Kolkata, Shilpayan Samman 2017, conferred by Gobordanga Shilpayan, Sumati Sengupta Smriti Samman 2019, conferred by Angan Belghoria, Dronacharya Samman 2019, conferred by Ashoknagar Natyamukh and Satyen Mitra Smriti Puroshkar awarded by Theatre Workshop in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2017 for his exemplary contribution in Bengali Theatre. He has also been awarded the Gajendra Kumar Mitra-Sumathanath Ghosh Memorial Award 2018, conferred by Mitra & Ghosh Publishers Pvt. Ltd. for his contribution to Bengali Literature.In 2021, Bratya Basu was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award for outstanding works of literature, for his anthology of Bengali theatre, Mir Jafar O Onyanya Natak. The award is given by an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, the Ministry of Culture. His plays have been translated into Hindi, English and French.
Hemlat, The Prince of Garanhata has won critical acclaim from academic researchers as an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Sam Kolodezh of the University of California, Irvine, Drama and Theatre heaped praise on Bratya's adaptation. Formerl associate professor at Kuwait University and a life-member of the Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, Antony Johae lectured on the Indianization of Shakespeare's work. Mr. Johae has contributed a research paper on Hemlat in the Vol-V, No.VIII of The International Journal of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences, edited by Dr Prof Amitava Roy, former Shakespeare professor at Rabindra Bharati University and president and co-founder of Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, and professor Ronan Paterson, an actor, director and producer for theatre and film in Britain and Ireland and an extensive writer on Shakespeare.
Bratya Basu formed the theatre group Kalindi Bratyajon in 2008. The first theatrical production of Bratyajon was Ruddhasangeet, a play on the Rabindrasangeet exponent Debabrata Biswas's journey of bitter struggle throughout his life in the prevailing system. The play received acclaim and has so far staged more than 150 shows. He produced "Boma" in 2015, a period piece exposing jealousy, greed for power, and internal conflicts among Bengali freedom fighters. Basu also produced another untold history of Bengal spanning 1757 and 1764. The play Mir Jafar showcases the power politics and game of minds to unravel the complexities in which 'Mir Jafar' continues to be the emblematic representation of the 'universal betrayer' in all societies and times.
Role in theater
Novels
Prose| Year | Title | Title in English Or Exact Meaning | Publisher | Ref |
| 2025 | First Biography on Messi in Bengali Language | Ekti 'Sahityik' Mahakabyer Kissa: Lionel Andres Messi | Dey Book Store | |
| 2025 | Biography on Bertolt Brecht | B.B. | Dey Book Store |
Original poetry
| Year | Title | Title in English | Publisher | Notes | Ref | |
| 2023 | Theatre Bishayak Kabita | Poems in relation to Theatre | Signet Press |
Translated poetry
| Year | Title | Title in English | Publisher | Notes | Ref |
| 2025 | Juddher Barnoparichay | War Primer by Bertolt Brecht | Dey Book Store | ||