Arna Mukhopadhyay at a rehearsal. Picture by Gopal Senapati

He experiments with the stage but is not willing to take it beyond the proscenium. He has had success with Caesar Cleopatra and freely admits that he has moved away from Bernard Shaw’s original play. Girish Karnad’s play on Mohammad Bin Tughlag inspired him to make Eka Tughlaq and this play has been staged since last year. With an illustrious father in theatre, Arna Mukhopadhyay is growing independently as a director and an actor.

A sportsperson by choice in school, Arna suddenly decided to follow his father, theatre director Shib Mukhopadhyay, to the boards. In school, he was too focussed on sports playing district level basketball, football and a lot of para cricket. His first significant stage appearance was in the play Aisharik directed by Shib, where Arna played Eklavya. Then he was in Class VI. Although he would be cast in many of Natadha’s productions, Arna never felt the urge to take up theatre seriously till he reached Class XI. “I even did a play with my friends after my Madhyamik exams. It was called Agnir Kusum and my father directed it. Even then I did not think of taking up theatre seriously,” he said.

But things started changing when he was in Class XI. “Life turned a complete 180 degrees after I watched Mahabharata, a mega production by my father in which some of the greatest actors like Bibhash Chakraborty, Dwijen Bandopadhyay and others from 15 groups across the state had taken part. This production changed my life and I decided to take up theatre seriously,” said Arna.

He completed his BA and MA in acting and theatre from Rabindra Bharati University and continued to pursue M Phil in contemporary stage acting. At present, Arna is preparing to do a PhD, again on theatre acting. Besides studies, Arna is now completely dedicated to theatre and Natadha. “I started taking part in theatre activities regularly at Natadha from 2003 onwards and also wrote a reactionary play Ei Muhurte, based on the Nandigram incident. My first stage appearance as a serious actor was in 2006 in the play Karna Ekhon, where I played the lead role of Karna,” said Arna. After that there were many roles, including that of Siraj-ud-Daulah in Palashi, that was produced in 2007 commemorating 250 years of the Battle of Plassey. This too was a mega production where 14 groups of the state had participated. “This play helped boost my confidence a lot,” said Arna.

Arna is a part of National School of Drama’s ‘Theatre in Education’ project where he visits various schools to hold workshops with the students. “I enjoy working with children and I do not follow any particular method of teaching. The best way to deal with them is through interaction and making them speak about themselves,” said Arna.

As far as theatre is concerned, Arna feels that change is necessary to attract the young audience. “They are influenced by action-packed, colourful Hollywood films and they will only come to watch theatre that has an attractive packaging,” he said.

More about Arna

• DoB: December 14, 1985
• Born in: Howrah
• Education: PhD in acting
• Family: Parents
• Loves: Sports, music and reading
• Hates: Hypocrisy