Suresh Dutta
Suresh Dutta is an Indian puppet artist, theatre personality and the founder of Calcutta Puppet Theatre, a Kolkata-based theatre group dedicated to puppetry. Born in Faridpur, in the undivided Bengal of the British India, he trained art under Phani Bhushan, a Jatra exponent, and Kathakali under Balakrishna Menon. He has also learnt fusion style of danceform from maestro Uday Shankar. He also learnt Bharatanatyam and Manipuri before moving to Russia, under a scholarship in 1962, to train in puppetry under the Russian puppeteer, Sergey Obraztsov. Returning to India in 1963, he joined the Children's Little Theatre , under the behest of Balakrishna Menon, as the assistant dance director, where he also designed costumes and sets. A decade later, he founded his own puppet theatre group, Calcutta Puppet Theatre, along with his wife, Devi, and a few like-minded artists. The group staged several shows, beginning with the "Alladin", followed by "Ramayana", "Sita", "Gulabo aar Sitabo" and "Notun Jeebon", totaling over 3,000 shows. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to puppetry.