Ajitesh Bandopadhyay

and Keya Chakrabarty, staged and performed many successful plays - mostly adaptations of Chekhov, Sophocles, Luigi Pirandello, and such stalwarts; of these, few like Antigone, Teen Poysar Pala (adapted from Three Penny Opera), Manjari Aamer Manjari (adapted from Cherry Orchard) not only drew large audiences but created milestones of success even at the national level. Plays like Bhalomanusher Pala and Sher Afgan met with the same success. As a recognition of his directorial ventures and contribution to theatre, he was honored with the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1976 at the age of 42, one of the youngest recipients of this nationally prestigious award. In the early 1970s, he was described by none other than Sombhu Mitra as the "most powerful performer of the Bengal theatre in current times". In 1977, he left Nandikar and formed his theatrical group Nandimukh through which he continued his stage productions and performances with equal aplomb.