Mantra Shakti
(1902-72)
Bengali director; pioneering art director on
commercial Bengali stage before entering films;
considered to have influenced later masters such as
Bansi Chandragupta and Tapas Sen, the lighting
technician for several IPTA plays and for Utpal
Dutt. Early training in Europe and USA. Saw
Meyerhold’s work in Moscow; apprenticed to
Stanislavski’s student Richard Boleslawski at
Laboratory Theatre, New York (1926). Also saw
Max Reinhard perform in Berlin, Gordon Craig in
London and Sarah Bernhardt on Broadway.
Technical director of Laboratory Theatre; then
mainly responsible for building Woodstock Theatre
(1929). Returned to Calcutta (1930) where he
worked for major Calcutta Theatre
companies: Rangmahal (1931), Natya Niketan
(1931-42) and Sisir Bhaduri’s Srirangam
(1942-56). Best-known plays co-directed with
Naresh Mitra, often starring major Bengali
film actors: Dhiraj Bhattacharya,
Jahar Ganguly, Shanti Gupta, etc. Also
introduced the revolving stage, mood (or
‘psychological’) lighting, etc. Freelanced as filmmaker, e.g. Sachindranath Sengupta’s well-known
comedy produced by Priyanath Ganguly,
Sarbajanin Bibahotsab. Wrote
autobiography (1976), including theoretical essays
on colour and light.