Dibyendu Bhattacharya

Place: Kolkata

Born: 1962

Biography:

Dibyendu Roy, also known as Dibyendu Bhattacharya, is an Indian actor, dancer, choreographer, politician, and animal rights activist. He is known for his work in Hindi and Bengali cinema and has been cited as the reigning queen of Bengali commercial cinema. He has acted in more than a hundred films and won over forty awards, including a National Award, three BFJA Awards, five Kalakar Awards, and an Anandalok Award. As a dancer, he is known for his stage adaptations of various forms of Indian folk dances as well as his innovative dance forms imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal, and folk dance. He runs the Natraj dance troupe and is the founder of the Debasree Roy Foundation, a non-profit organization that works for the cause of stray animals. Roy was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Raidighi constituency from 2011 till 2021. His first acting assignment was Hiranmoy Sen's Bengali devotional film Pagal Thakur (1966) where he was cast as an infant Ramakrishna Paramhansa. His first leading role in Bengali cinema came with Arabinda Mukhopadhyay's film Nadi Theke Sagare (1978). He shot to wider recognition for his role in Aparna Sen's National Award winning directorial debut 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) and Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981) under Rajshri Productions. He also appeared in several other Hindi films such as Bura Aadmi (1982), Justice Chaudhury (1983), Phulwari (1984), Kabhie Ajnabi The (1985), Seepeeyan (1986) and Pyar Ka Sawan (1989). After his Bengali film Troyee (1982) became a major success at box office, he concentrated more in Bengali cinema. His other major hits at the box office include films such as Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), Lalmahal (1986), Chokher Aloy (1989), Jhankar (1989), Ahankar (1991) and Yuddha (2005) to name a few. Roy was conferred with BFJA Award for Best Actress (1992) for the first time for his performance in Indar Sen's Bengali film Thikana (1991). He was conferred with the National Film Award for Best Actress (1995) as well as BFJA Award for Best Actress (1997) for his role in Rituparno Ghosh's National Award winning Bengali film Unishe April (1994). He collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh for the second time in his National Award winning Bengali film Asukh (1999) which once again earned him the BFJA Award for Best Actress (2000). He was also critically acclaimed for his performances in films such as Anutap (1992), Sandhyatara (1994), Kaal Sandhya (1997), Prohor (2002) and Shilpantar (2004). Roy was trained in Odissi by Kelucharan Mahapatra. He was exposed to the various forms of Indian folk dances as well by Mahapatra and took a sincere interest to adapt them on stage. In 1991, he formed the dance troupe Natraj and their first venture Vasavdatta went on to receive full seat occupancy every time it was staged. He, onwards ventured into an attempt to manifest the forms of folk dance of Bengal in Swapner Sandhane, an acclaimed production of Natraj. He was most applauded for his wider attempt to present the various forms of Indian folk dance in Bichitro, the first abroad production of Natraj. In Navras, he exhibited an innovative dance form imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal and folk dance.