Tapas Sen ( 11 September, 1924 – 28 June, 2006) was a noted

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

stage lighting designer, who was an important figure in 20th-century

Indian theatre Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian theatre is also define ...

. He started working with Bengali theatre movement in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

in the late 1940s, along with noted directors, Utpal Dutt and Shambhu Mitra. Later he became a founding member of the

Indian People's Theatre Association Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultur ...

's (IPTA), Delhi chapter, and worked closely with Hindi theatre. Through his career stretching five decades he worked theatre directors,

Ebrahim Alkazi Ebrahim Alkazi (18 October 1925 – 4 August 2020) was an Indian theatre director and drama teacher. A rigid disciplinarian, he instilled in his acting students an awe and reverence that they still carry with them, with several of them havin ...

Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...

, and also dancers

Sadhana Bose Sadhana Bose (20 April 1914 – 3 October 1973) (Sadhona Bose) was an Indian actress and a dancer. She acted in movies like ''Meenakshi'', where she played the lead. A contemporary of Uday Shankar, in the 1930s she staged a number of ballets in ...

, Chandralekha, Birju Maharaj and

Kelucharan Mahapatra Kelucharan Mohapatra (8 January 1926 – 7 April 2004) was a legendary Indian classical dancer, guru, and exponent of Odissi dance, who is credited with the revival and popularizing of this classical dance form in the 20th century. He is ...

. He was known not only for his creative

stage lighting Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance, opera, and other performance arts.

, but also had a significant impact on the work of leading theatre director of the time. He was awarded the 1974

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

in 1974, given by the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and be ...

, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, and

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also known as Akademi Ratna Sadasyata, is an Indian honour for the performing arts presented by Sangeet Natak Academy. It is "the most prestigious and rare honour" conferred by the Academy and is "restricte ...

in 2004.

Career

Tapas Sen was born in 1924 in Dhubri, Assam. His father was Matilal Sen and mother's name was Subarnalata He started his career in theater with the production of a shadow play on the 1943 Bengal famine with Mrinal Sen. Amongst his most noted lighting installations are for '' son et lumière'', sound-and-light-shows at historical venues in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, like the

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift hi ...

, Purana Quila and at the

Qutb Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO Worl ...

. He also created lighting for noted stage venues across India including Birla Theatre in Kolkata, Siri Fort Auditorium,

Kamani Auditorium Kamani may refer to: Places * Pobiti Kamani or ''Pobitite Kamani'', a rock phenomenon in Varna Province, Bulgaria * Kamani, Bhamo, a village in north-eastern Burma * Kamani, Iran, a village in Hamadan Province, Iran * Kamani, Georgia, a village ...

in Delhi, and Rabindra Natya Manch in Mumbai. Besides doing architectural lighting design for important outdoor venues and monuments like

Khajuraho Khajuraho () is a city, near Chhatarpur in Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the country's largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous f ...

Konark Konark is a medium town in the Puri district in the state of Odisha, India. It lies on the coast by the Bay of Bengal, 65 kilometres from the capital of the state, Bhubaneswar. It is the site of the 13th-century Sun Temple, also known as t ...

, Elephanta and

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...

. In 1988, he designed the lighting for the opening ceremonies of the "Festival of India" at Moscow and Paris, under

Dashrath Patel Dashrath Patel (1927 – 1 December 2010) was an Indian designer, sculptor, and was one of the first teachers at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, from 1961 to 1981. He was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 1 ...

. He was also part of the 50-person team for the lighting design of the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

in 2000. The entire design was done by 50 light designers and engineers using 5 lifts for a span of 2 years, 2 months and 5 days. He was awarded the 1974

in Theatre Arts, the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists, conferred by the

, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, and subsequently the academy also the highest honour the

in 2004. He also was awarded the Kalidas Samman, by

Government of Madhya Pradesh Government of Madhya Pradesh also known as the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and its 52 districts. It consists of an executive, ...

for the year 1997-98. He was a fellow of the Lighting Designers, UK and the Indian Society of Lighting Engineers. He remained active even into his late years, in January 2006, he did the lighting for a production of

Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter ...

's play ''Visarjan'' which premiered at

Madhusudan Mancha Madhusudan Mancha is an auditorium in Dhakuria, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is named after Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 ...

in Kolkata. He died on 28 June 2006 in Kolkata due to a heart attack, at the age of 81. His body was donated for medical research.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Tapas 1924 births 2006 deaths Lighting designers Hindi theatre Bengali theatre personalities 20th-century Indian designers Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship People from Dhubri district Artists from Assam