Dwijen Bandyopadhyay


Dwijen Bandyopadhyay was a veteran Bengali actor and theater personality of West Bengal, India. Along with working onstage from the 1970s, he has also been a recognized figure in the world of Bengali film industry. Bandyopadhyay has also been a professor in the department of Drama at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata from 1996 to 2014.

Career

Dwijen Bandyopadhyay has a degree in Chartered Accountancy and has been the Chief Accountant at Amrit Bazar Patrika for many years until the company closed down. He then went on to become a professor in the department of Drama at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata right after he came to the limelight through a popular Bengali comedy-cum-thriller series Abar Jakher Dhan. Later during the early 2000s he found ground in the acting industry through the TV serials Chuni Panna and Labonyer Sansar. Afterwards he became known in the Bengali film industry. He acted in various movies and T.V serials. Bandyopadhyay played in both intellectual and mainstream films along with continuing his work in the culture of Group theatre of Kolkata. Bandyopadhyay was so engrossed in his art of theatre that he even backed out of the role played by Kharaj Mukherjee in Kahaani since the film dates were postponed and were clashing with the dates of his performance. He performed in dramas like; Amitakshar, Ghora, Samabartan, Balidan, Abhimukh, Dashchakra, Mallabhumi, and Mushthijog, Gunadharer Asukh, Spardhabarna, Monoshchokhyu, Ainshiddho and Bhootnath. Bandyopadhyay constituted his own theatre group Samstab in 1982. His last stage performance was on 1st January, 2016 of the play Bhootnath at Girish Manch after which he succumbed to a major nerve problem and several minor cerebral strokes that took away his ability to speak in coordinated sentences and to walk properly, thereby hampering his career. This is the reason why he had to say no to many films and advertisements from both the Bengali and Hindi film industry.

Filmography

In 1992 he receive Paschim Banga Natya Akademi award for his acting in the drama named Balidan.

Death

Dwijen Bandyopadhyay had been suffering from a major nerve problem for a year and nine months. It affected his speech and the right part of the body causing him to be unable to walk normally. Because of this, he couldn't work onstage or onscreen leading him to suffer from immense depression. On 27 September 2017, just 5 days after his birthday celebration, Bandyopadhyay died of a massive heart attack at his residence at 2:00am in Kolkata at 68.