# Dulal Roy

Dulal Roy is an Indian theatre actor, director and playwright from Assam. He received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for stage direction, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship and the Natyasurya Phani Sharma Award by the Government of Assam.

## Biography

Dulal Roy was born on April 1, 1943, in Sorbhog in Barpeta, Assam. His primary education was from Cotton Collegiate Government H.S. School in Guwahati and he done his graduation from Cotton College, Guwahati.
His affinity for drama, which began during his school days, intensified during his college years. In his second year of college, he translated Narayan Gangopadhyay's play Bharate Chai into Assamese under the title Janani and staged it. Its success led to the formation of a society called the Cotton College Dramatic Society.
Due to his interest in acting, after graduation, Dulal Roy joined the National School of Drama in New Delhi and completed diploma in dramatic arts in direction in 1966.
After completing his diploma, Roy returned to Assam with the aim of reviving the theatre scene in Assam, but two years later, in 1968, he joined the Film and Television Institute, Pune, to further his understanding of the various facets of audio-visual media, and obtained a diploma in film editing. During his time working with prominent filmmakers like Tarun Dutta, Asit Sen, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he worked as an assistant editor on films like Zafar, Buddha Mil Gaya, Anand and Dastak.

## Career

Roy has held many positions such as Executive Board Member of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Member of the Planning and Theatre Committee of the ICCR, Member of the Expert Committee of the National School of Drama, and Member of the Expert Committee of the Young Theatre Worker of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Later, he became the Project Director of the Sattriya Kendra, Guwahati a center started by Sangeet Natak Akademi to support Sattriya and allied traditions, and In-charge of Sangeet Natak Akademi's North East Centre, Guwahati.

## Works

Dulal Roy has directed over 80 plays, written numerous plays for stage, radio, and television, and acted in many plays. His play Prayosi was an independent play based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Another notable play is the independent adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's Russian satire The Reviser. Other notable plays include Jukti Tarka, Bismriti, Pon Rokshya, Kankalata, Swarthopor Daitya, Karengor Ligiri, Siraj, Andha Yug, Adhe Adhure, Ashad Ka Ek Din, The Lesson, Bhogjora, Hamlet, Sarkari Inspector and Waiting for Godot.
Roy directed the film Aashroy in 1979 and also acted in several Assamese films.

## Awards and honors
### Awards

* 1973: Best Production and Best Direction awards at the All India Full-Length Drama Competition held in Delhi (for Prayosi).
* 1977: Best Production and Best Direction awards at the All India Full-Length Drama Competition held in Delhi
* 1999: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for stage direction
* 2019: Natyasurya Phani Sharma Memorial Award by the Government of Assam
* 2022: Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
* 2022: Chatak Sanman
* Chamanlal Memorial Award
* Natya Bhaskar Samman

### Honors

A six-day photography exhibition titled Indulgence of the Spirit, was organized in 2015 to honor Dulal Roy's career spanning over 50 years. The book Pratay and Annekhsan: Dulal Royor Sadhana, released in 2016 as a tribute to him, contains more than hundred articles by his former associates and art critics.