Man of many parts Tall, well-built, with a supple and statuesque body, he was additionally endowed with a bass voice of a range and resonance rare among the best actors of his time. He used these assets assiduously to add to his outstanding histrionic skills. The result was a towering stage presence that few of his contemporaries could match. Ajitesh Bandopadhyay was an actor and a dramatist who will always be remembered for his outstanding contribution to Indian theatre. He adapted foreign texts and diluted their foreignness by transforming them into convincing Bengali drama. Most of them proved popular with the public and critics, extending the horizon of Bengali viewers’ expectations about theatrical ideas. Among the diverse array of dramatists from whose works he adapted, Bandopadhyay was most comfortable with Chekhov and Brecht. Some of them were truly memorable: Natyakarer Sandhaney Chhati Charitra (Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author) in 1961, Manjari Aamer Manjari (Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard) in 1964, Sher Afghan (Pirandello’s Henry IV) in 1966, Tin Paysar Pala (Brecht’s Three Penny Opera) in 1969 and Bhalo Manush (Brecht’s Good Person of Setzuan) in 1974. Conceived by media personality Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee and curated by theatre thespian Biplab Dasgupta, Theatrum is a tribute to this great dramaturge who revolutionised the concept of world theatre on the Bengali stage and ruled it in his inimitable style.This evening’s programme marks the beginning of a year-long project that would showcase some of the best works of playwrights across the globe through dramatised readings by acclaimed theatre personalities of Calcutta. The readings will be preceded by talks by eminent personalities who would familiarise the dramatist to the audience. Event: A tribute to Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay When: Today at 6 pm Where: Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place

Art

Till August 1 (except Sundays and public holidays) at CIMA Gallery; Mondays: 3 pm - 7 pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays: 2 pm - 7 pm: Summer Show 2009. Featuring works by Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Sumitro Basak, Shreyasi Chatterjee, Jogen Chowdhury, Sougata Das, Anita Gopal, Farhad Hussain, Paresh Maity, Ganesh Pyne, Satyajit Roy, Suhas Roy, Lalu Prosad Shaw and many other artists from across India. June 18 - 24 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: The seventh group exhibition of Bengal Trayee, a group of youing artists. Participants: Sukanta Bakshi, Sudip Chandra, Soumya K. Chakraborty, Supriya Polley, Mrinmoy Mondal and Nafisa Khatun. Till June 19 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: The seventh group exhibition presented by Scarlet. participating artists: Biplab Kar, Chhanda Bikash Mitra, Mahesh Roy, Pramitparna Paul, Santanu Chakraborty, Sudipta Mazumdar and Umakanta Das. Till June 19 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road, #2475 2275; 3 pm - 8 pm: Eye of God — an exhibition of paintings by Niladri Sekhar Majumder. Till June 19 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of paintings by Debasish Ghosh. Till June 20 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malayalay Apartments, 3 Woodburn Park, #30584060/2: A group exhibition of paintings. Featuring works by Hemanta Sur, Arindam Debnath, Shibshankar Das and Krishnapratim Sahu. Till June 21 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 4th floor AC Gallery; 4 pm - 8 pm: Creators presents a group show of paintings and sculptures by Arun Banik, Avijit Sinha, Bappa Basak, Biplab Tokder, Debarata Singha, S.A. Jafar, Krishnendu Paul, Partha Pratim Das, Probir Mondal, Rajib Sikdar, Sadikul Islam, Sajal Mukherjee, Samiran Majumdar and Sekhar Biswas. Till June 30 (except 4th Saturday and Sunday) at Emami Chisel Art Pvt. Ltd, Emami Towers, 687 Anandapur, EM Bypass, #40113182/3; 11 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of sculptures by contemporary artists. Till June 30 (except Sundays) at Tejas Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, #98300 49825; 12.30 pm - 7.30 pm: Paintings by young, upcoming artists Atish Mukherjee, Arunava Mondal, Avijit Mukherjee, Ranjan Mukhopadhyay, Sanjay Kr Samanta, Tanay Paul, Bibek Pal, Goutam Sarkar and others. Till July 31 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #65508418; 10.30 am - 7 pm: Sensorial Realities, an exhibition of paintings by Subrata Gangopadhyay, Suhas Roy, Prakash Karmakar, Shyamal Mukherjee, Samir Paul, Bratin Khan, Sanatan Dinda, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday Chaudhuri, Atin Basak and others.

PERFORMING ARTS

June 18 at Rabindra Sadan; 5.30 pm: Pratishruti presents an evening of audio-play and poetry-reading. The highlight is the shruti-natak, D.L. Roy’s Chandragupta, with Jagannath Basu as Chanakya and Satinath Mukhopadhyay in the role of Chandragupta. June 18 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: Vocal recital by Samrat Dasgupta, with Sumontro Guha (tabla) and Sanatan Goswami (harmonium). June 18 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 6 pm: Curtain raiser to Theatrum, a tribute to the great thespain, Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay, through play-reading by Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee and Biplab Dasgupta. June 19 at Rabindra Sadan; 5.30 pm: To meet the expenses for the treatment of Shukla Dam, one of the brightest alumna of Sangeet Bhavan, Sangeetashram presents Bhebe Na Pai and a song-and-dance programme, Biraher Antaraley (Participating artistes/groups: Alokananda Roy, Koushik Chakraborty, Molly Roy, Meerchhandam, Srikanto Acharya, Rezwana Choudhury Banya (playback), Esha Mitra, Swarup Pal, Swati Pal, Rabinandan, Sangeetashram, Debashis Basu, Madhumita Basu, Sovonsundar Basu, Sudipto Mitra, Mahua Das, Shraboni Sen, Ranajaybrata Roy, Dr Samarpita Sarkar and Sanghamitra Chakraborty). June 20 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Parampara’s fifth production features Suchitrar Santiniketan: Reminiscence by Suchitra Mitra along with reading by Subir Mitra and contextual Tagore songs by Anita Pal and associate artistes, and dance by Bimbavati Devi and artistes of Manipuri Nartanalaya. Overall concept: Amit Dasgupta. June 21 at Trincas, 17B Park Street; 6 pm - 8 pm: Trincas will celebrate World Music Day with Say It With Music, featuring performances by the bands, Black Rose and Eternity. June 23 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture presents Anandadhara/Amritadhara featuring puratani tappa songs by Gopal Chattopadhyay and tappa-based Tagore songs by Rahul Mitra.

DRAMA

June 18 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Shapath presents Tagore’s Ayo Jalamba. Direction: Shyamal Bhattacharya. June 19 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Choopkatha will stage Mrs. Soriano, directed by Dolly Basu. June 19 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Mangalik presents Manush Bhoot. Drama & direction: Samir Biswas. June 20 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Sayak will stage Dournama. Playwright: Indrasis Lahiri. Direction and in lead role: Meghnad Bhattacharya. June 20 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Nandipat will stage its latest production, Aapad. Direction: Bimal Chakraborty. June 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Bohurupee will stage its new production, Birja-Shulka. Direction: Tulika Das. June 20 at Mukta Angan Rangalaya; 6.30 pm: Thealight presents Fidaynee. Story, design & direction: Atanu Sarkar. June 21 at Tapan Theatre; 5.30 pm: Kerala Cultural Forum presents Bhoomisasthram, a play in Malayalam, directed by P.K. Sasi. For further details, contact N. Rajan at 93310 40587. June 21 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Gandhar will stage Kachher Manush, with Debshankar Haldar and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Direction: Gautam Haldar, filmmaker.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till June 21 at Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshashala; 2 pm - 8 pm: Light & Shadow presents its second annual photography exhibition. Till June 28 at Nandalal Bose Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre - ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11 am - 7 pm: A photography exhibition by Nemai Ghosh on Satyajit Ray — From Script to Screen. A joint collaboration of ICCR and National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi.

TALK

June 18 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Samshuddhananda will speak in Bengali on Mandukya-Karika. June 18 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Bijan Lodh will speak on Mayer Katha. June 18 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 7.30 pm: Swami Vamananandaji Maharaj will speak on Teachings of Gita and its practice in daily life.

EXHIBITION

June 18 - 30 at Soumya’s Creation, 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 11.30 am - 6.30 pm: Monsoon Magic — on show will be mixed weave saris, printed and woven unstitched suits, both costume and silver jewellery, a small range of brocade zardozi evening bags and a comprehensive range of children’s clothes. Till June 30 (except Tuesdays) at The Halo Heritage Art Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road, #24190133; 11.30 am - 9 pm: Halo Hertitage, in collaboration with Mohini, presents Parampara, an exhibition of traditional textiles. Till June 30 at Pumpkin Patch, South City Mall, Shop #S-210, 2nd floor: Mid-season show of Pumpkin Patch products, an international kids clothing brand. Till June 30 at Design, 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road: Paramita Viswanathan’s special summer collection of printed Tangails and Rajasthani Kotas. June 19 - 21 at Prudential Hall, 18H Park Street: Fabindia presents an exhibition of a new range of furniture.

WORKSHOP

June 18 at Oxford Junior, 17 Park Street; 5.30 pm: Indrani Chatterjee will conduct graphotherapy workshop: (1) handwriting analysis and (2) providing guidance to children on the correct strokes of writing. Details at 9831442177. June 21 at The Senator Hotel, 15 Camac Street; 11 am onwards: LifeCell International is organising an informative and free one-day Antenatal and labour preparation workshop for expectant mothers (three to eight months pregnant). The workshop will be conducted by Dr Sonali Shivlani, an antenatal specialist from Mumbai. For registration, call 2486 2289, 93391 60805, 99039 44736.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph,6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244