Born in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, Debesh has been working in the field of theatre for the last thirty three years. He is the founder and director of “Sansriti”. He has directed over 40 plays in Bengali. “Winkle Twinkle”, “Devi Sarpomasta”, “Phataru”, “Saudagorer Nouka” are milestone productions on the Bengali Stage directed by Debesh.

Not only proscenium, but he has also directed plays for intimate and site-specific theatre. He is a well acclaimed theatre academic and expert, and has completed a senior fellowship on “Cognitive Neuroscience and Theatre”. He has written several books on theatre. “The Week” magazine felicitated him as one of the ‘Fifty emerging stars of India’ in 2003. Debesh has been honoured by Paschimbanga Natya Academy (Govt. of W.B.) as “Best Director” twice. Recipient of many awards Debesh directed his first feature film “Natoker Moto: like a play” in 2015. It was included in International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa in the Indian Panorama and, International Competition Section. Film Critic Circle of India (FCCI) honoured him as best debut director of 2015 for the film. Currently he is working on “Natyashastra”. Highest state award in theatre (Girish Ghosh Samman) was given to Debesh by Govt. of W.B. (I&CA) in 2019.

ABOUT US

Sansriti was formed in February 1993. Since its inception, Sansriti wanted to create its own signature in the Indian theater arena with the choice of the plays that it decides to produce and also the form of its content presentation. Sansriti started its journey when Bengali theater was marked with popular verbose theater and no experimentation in search of a new theatrical language of audio visual representation was accepted as a popular mass visual culture. The struggle began then to give to the audience a new taste of theater design. But Sansriti never tried to impose anything to mark its presence.

From choosing contents like "Fataru", "EA" which were non linear narrative but was a sarcastic remark on the reality of the society then, it derived its form. Even nonliving mise-en-scenes became characters and it is only Sansriti the only theater group in Kolkata probably which developed the term called "scenography" where the communication in theater does not happen only through dialogues but through the proper use of space and manipulation of theatrical time, that a theater is born on stage and also in the mind of the Audience.

Sansriti proceeded with its journey then through conducting theater workshops, making new people learn about how to think about the language of Indian theater. Sansriti engaged in publications. Its publication on "Satu Sen" the famous photographer's use of light and grabbing moments became an important lesson for theater learners. The publication of Sansriti on the the famous theater actor Keya Chakraborty is a landmark documentation of her life.

Sansriti's search for new theatrical language and its influence and change convinced the group to include Debesh Chattopadhyay's research on cognitive science and theater, and productions like "Brain" took its birth. Through Documentary films, working with school children both privileged and underprivileged, with various subjects of theatrical interest, Sansriti is still treading its path to achieve its goal.