The chatter of children can be heard from several houses away, and the entrance porch outside is piled with hundreds of shoes. The living room and staircase are occupied by waiting parents, while upstairs, children of all ages are rehearsing lines.
Welcome to Eso Naktok Sikhi, a Kestopur-based children’s theatre group where the art is taught free of charge. The founder, Tapas Das, lives alone in the three-storey house that is entirely and solely dedicated to children’s theatre. “With over some 130 students, bari dokhol hoe jaye,” he says. “And I couldn’t be happier.”
“My son lives in the US, and my wife has gone over too. They keep asking me to join them, but how can I? Every Sunday, I run two batches of theatre for kids aged between five and 15,” he says.
All the world’s a stage
The group completed 35 years in 2025 by — what else — staging plays at The Calcutta University Institute. Das was once a biology teacher who loved theatre. He registered this group in 1990 and quit his job to focus on the kids. “The key reason why kids come here is because it’s free. Also, we do a huge a number of shows. In 2024-25, we staged 69 shows of 20 productions. Any kids’ groups anywhere else in the country do about 10,” Das says.
They can afford so many shows by keeping costs minimal. “I teach the kids every aspect of theatre, so we never need to hire separate light or sound men,” he explains. “When we go out of town (we’ve even performed in Nepal), I have a rule: if a child comes with me, his expenses are covered. If a guardian accompanies him, he will have to pay for both himself and the child.”
Social divide
Das started the classes with 10 children, all from the slums. “Their parents sent them to me to keep them away from anti-social activities. Gradually, middle-class kids started coming. I never treated anyone differently, but the slum children then started distancing themselves. Now, they don’t come at all. In fact, I’ve introduced a uniform now so no one feels different during practice,” he says.
In 2018, the group organised their first Kolkata International Children’s Theatre Festival, inaugurated by veteran actress Sharmila Tagore.
“I honestly don’t care how good the play is. What I ask is if the kids are happy while performing and rehearsing it. And I know they love it, as their mothers threaten not to bring them for practice till they don’t finish their homework,” says Das, who now wants to establish an institute for training, workshops, and shows.
Stepping stone
The group gets big names like Bivas Chakraborty, Goutam Halder, and Debshankar Halder for workshops, and they have earned such a good reputation that filmmakers turn to their pool whenever in need of child actors.
In the 2024 critically acclaimed film Onko Ki Kothin, Tapamoy Deb, a student of Eso Natok Sikhi for three years now, played the role of the child named Tyre. “(Tapas) sir taught us focus and meditation, and my theatre experience helped a lot in the films,” said the 10-year-old.
Twelve-year-old Abhinav Barua, who appeared in Sandip Ray’s 2024 film Nayan Rahasya, said his stage fright is gone because of doing multiple plays here. “I had no problem performing on screen and could do my scenes in just a few retakes, as we are trained for theatre, where we get a single take,” he said.
Sneha Bhattacharya, who is in Class IX and has been coming since kindergarten, says the most important lesson she’s learnt here is discipline. “We learn not just acting but lights, sound, stage set-up, and production, so in school, I can direct plays. I come from Jadavpur, and on the road, sir tells us not to look at our phones but to observe others’ mannerisms as we can use them in acting,” said the girl, who has performed in the serial Anurager Chhoa.
