Robin Das(III)

Shri Robin Kumar Das passed out of the National School of Drama in May 1976. As a freelancer, he soon designed sets for stalwart directors like Habib Tanvir and Ebrahim Alkazi. In December 1977, at the age of 26, he was inducted into the National School of Drama faculty as an Assistant Professor in Scenic Design. From January 1978 to the next ten years he designed sets and costumes for nationally and internationally reputed directors like Barry John, B.V. Karanth, Fritz Bennewitz, and Ram Gopal Bajaj for NSD Repertory Company. His designs during this period were highly appreciated by audiences, Theatre Critics and art lovers as exemplary and one of the country's best. In 2001, the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi conferred him with the National Award in the field of Theatre for his contributions to the art of Scenic Design. Despite his official specialization, Shri Das's individual Laboratory experimentations in his group Theatre established him as a leading experimental Theatre Director, who assimilated modernity with classical and traditional theatre Mileu of India into effective productions. Because of his eminence as a theatre director and acting trainer, apart from teaching his regular subject Scenic Design, he was again and again given the task of play direction and Acting Training at the National School of Drama. His popularity as a play Director and Acting Coach began in the 80s and continues to date, amongst the NSD students. As a result, during his tenure of 36 years, he directed 28 plays (i.e., with 28 Batches) and even after his retirement he is continuously invited to NSD to take classes and direct plays with students. Mr. Robin Das Hails from Odisha. Despite his non-Hindi origin, he continued Directing and teaching in Hindi Theatre and for this contribution he was conferred with Pandit Ganga Sharan Hindi Sevi Samman in 2011 by Central Hindi Sansthan, Agra. Apart from the above contributions and achievements Mr. Das, in the four and a half decades, continuously took on many difficult assignments, to enrich far-off regional rural areas, in the art of theatre. In 1987, he conducted a production-oriented theatre workshop in a village in Odisha for 40 days with participants from ten nearby villages culminating in a production. In 2007 he conducted a Tribal Theatre Workshop in Rourkela, Odisha, on behalf of NSD Extension Programmes. The workshop had 27 students (ten female participants) from Odisha, Jharkhand, and Purulia (West Bengal). In this 45-day workshop with two direction students from the group, three full-length plays were created. Two of the plays were in Santhali, one of them was by the Santhali Great Guru Pandit Raghunath Murmu and the other was a Santhali Translation of Bodhayan's Bhagavadajjukam. The third play was in 'Ho' Language, created from a 'Ho' myth, directed by one of the Direction students. In the next year of the workshop one of the direction students was selected for the 3 years course in NSD, who successfully graduated. In 2008, a similar workshop, in which six teachers and 28 students there, was conducted in Dimapur, Nagaland. In the workshop, one play was evolved around Nagamese Life partly verbal & partly Non-verbal and Musical. The second play 'A Doll's House', a translated version in Nagamese was created. Both the plays were taken around and performed in Nagaland in four canters in a 15-day tour. The output of the workshop was that in the next two years, three of the participants were selected in NSD for three three-year course. Mr. Das was a continuous visiting Teacher to most of the NSD Extension Programme workshops in Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Karnataka, teaching scenic design over three decades. He has been frequently invited to Bharatendu Natya Academy, Lucknow, and MP School of Drama, Bhopal on various occasions to direct plays and to teach. Mr. Das even after retirement continues to teach and direct Plays, even at the age of 72 plus.

To Summarize the contribution of Shri Robin Kumar Das. Taught in NSD for 36 years. Directed about 60 Plays in four decades in Delhi and other parts of the Country. Conducted more than 15 workshops in the remote regions of the Country. Designed sets for about 50 Plays. Designed Costumes for about 30 Plays. Took Acting workshops in about 20 places in the country. Conducted workshops and directed non-Hindi plays in Jharkhand, Nagaland and Odisha.

Awards In 2001 Sangeet Natak Akademi Delhi conferred him with a National Award for his contribution to the art of Scenic Design in the field of Theatre. Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra conferred him with Pandit Ganga Sharan Award for directing and teaching Theatre in Hindi Language, being a non-Hindi Theatre Artist.