Krishnendu Adhikari


Krishnendu Adhikari is an Indian actor, director and producer who primarily works in Bengali theatre and the Bengali Film Industry. In 2016, he co-founded the Kolkata-based Behala Project Prometheus.

Biography

Born in Tamluk, West Bengal, Adhikari is the youngest of three siblings. He completed his bachelor's degree in English literature from Midnapore College, West Bengal. In 2012, Adhikari began his career as an actor and photographer with the Rang Roop theatre group in Kolkata, India. Over the next five years, he trained as an actor. Adhikari also learned the Tamil martial art Kalaripayattu under Arka Mukhopadhyay.
In 2016, Adhikari participated in the Bharat Rang Mahotsav theatre festival in Delhi, India, as actor and production manager in Rajar Mrityu and Raajrokto. In the same year, Adhikari acted in two Bengali productions: Ags'uddhi and Indur O Manush. Adhikari's portrayal of Chhotu Mandi, the lead character in Ags'uddhi, received critical acclaim. In 2018, Adhikari headlined a theatrical production titled Mrityusangbad. Following his participation in the "Stranger", Adhikari and his team travelled to Mysore, India, with Mrityusangbad as part of the 20th Bharat Rang Mahotsav festival in 2019.
In 2016, Adhikari co-founded Behala Project Prometheus with Indudipa Sinha. In 2017, they premiered Code Red - a theatre and dance presentation, adapted from Rabindranath Tagore's poem Sishutirtha, directed by Sinha. Adhikari served as ensemble member, production manager, and assistant director to this critically hailed production, which travelled nationally as part of the 8th Theatre Olympics in Bhopal, India and the fifth C.G.K. Rashtriya Rangothsava in Bengaluru, India.
Adhikari had his directorial debut at the Short and Sweet theatre festival in Kolkata in 2015 with a ten-minute play titled One Two Three.
In 2016, Adhikari acted in the Bengali film Tope - The Bait, directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, which travelled to the Toronto International Film Festival, the 60th BFI London Film Festival, and the 21st Busan International Film Festival. In 2017, Adhikari made his debut in the commercial Bengali Film Industry as a supporting character in Birsa Dasgupta's One. Adhikari has also featured in independent Bengali short films, including Niruddesh/Adrift and Banshi. In 2018, Niruddesh/Adrift, with Adikari in the lead, was selected and screened as part of the Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival in Hyderabad, India, the India Shorts Competition organised by the 9th Jagran Film Festival in Delhi, India, and an international screening organised by The Tannenbusch House in Bonn, Germany. In 2019, Niruddesh/Adrift was selected to be screened as part of the Second South Asian Short Film Festival in Kolkata, India.
Adhikari, along with Behala Project Prometheus, premiered a Bengali theatre production in 2018 titled Jara Jege Thake, with allegorical references to the present political climate in West Bengal and India.
In 2019, Adhikari starred in the first installment of a Bengali web series titled The Senapatis as sub-inspector G. R. Neogi on the Indian web entertainment platform Addatimes.

Plays

  • "... O Onyanya Kuyasha", premiered in 2022
  • Anandamath, premiered in 2018
  • Jara Jege Thake, premiered in 2018
  • Ekti Shohoj Khuner Golpo, premiered in 2016
  • Ags'uddhi, premiered in 2016
  • Ordhek Jeebon, premiered in 2016
  • Rajar Mrityu, premiered in 2015
  • A Good Deed for Mr. Stinky, premiered in 2015
  • One Two Three, premiered in 2015
  • Raajrokto, premiered in 2014

Filmography

  • Mon Matal,, Expected Release 2023
  • Chhipkali, Expected Release 2023
  • Goyenda Junior, premiered in 2019
  • Banshi, premiered in 2018
  • Niruddesh/Adrift, premiered in 2018
  • One, premiered in 2017
  • Tope (film) - The Bait, premiered in 2016

TV and Web Series

The Senapatis - Volume 2
  • The Senapatis - Volume 1, premiered in 2019