About
Theatre with a mission: to create awareness of injustice, especially to women and disadvantaged sections of society, through socially engaged drama.
Rangakarmee is a theatre group founded in Kolkata in January 1976 by the director-actor Usha Ganguly, and one of the foremost champions of Hindi theatre in the city, though it has also staged Bengali plays. Working under the banner of theatre with a mission, it built a distinctive style of socially engaged, issue-based drama, foregrounding strong women characters and the concerns of the marginalised, in landmark productions such as Mahabhoj, Rudali, Court Martial and Antaryatra.
Usha Ganguly, who trained in Bharatanatyam and took a master's in Hindi literature before turning to the stage, founded Rangakarmee in 1976 and led it for over four decades until her death in April 2020. Under her direction the group became a key platform for experimental and socially relevant theatre, adapting literary and folk narratives to tackle gender inequality, injustice and political corruption, and earning her the Padma Shri (1998) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for theatre direction. Rangakarmee continues under the direction of Anirudh Sarkar, who trained within the group and has directed productions including Rudali, Chandalika and the META-winning Chandaa Bedni.
Rangakarmee is one of Kolkata's most prominent Hindi theatre ensembles and a landmark of socially committed, women-centred Indian theatre, sustaining a distinctive tradition of issue-based drama for nearly five decades.
[Atlas Perspective] Profiled as an Institution (Operator) in the Theatre field. Rangakarmee's issue-based Hindi theatre connects it to the wider Indian theatre movement; founder Usha Ganguly was a Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee.