Badal Sircar, was born on 15th July 1925 in an educated middle-class family. Badal Sircar’s real name is Sudhindra Sircar. He studied Civil Engineering from a reputed Bengal Engineering College, Shibur, Howrah, near Kolkata, and completed his Masters of Arts from Jadavpur University in comparative literature. After completion of Civil Engineering, he became a town planner and started earning his livelihood. But he did not forget his childhood passion for theatre. Later he involved himself in politics for a short period of time. Disillusioned due to the political estrange policies, he concentrated on his job of being a civil engineer at Maithon, near Kolkata. This was a time which allowed him to focus on his childhood passion for theatre. Badal Sircar formed a ‘Rehearsal Club’ with the help of his friends and started rehearsing the plays. But, he realised the lack of serious and relevant plays, this motivated him to write play scripts. The other reason was that Sircar felt dissatisfaction to see the contemporary Indian society was divided into two classes-the bourgeois and proletariat class. He desperately wanted to bring the balance in the society but was uncertain about the ways to bring the reformation in the society.
Drama, Sircar believed, is one of the important tools to reform the society and make people aware about the need of brining the change in the society. He wrote his plays with certain intension / message to be given to the society. His most of the plays showed his rejection of artificial naturalistic approach of the contemporary playwrights. He reluctantly accepted ‘Arts for Arts Sake’. He altered his plays totally to suit his purpose of reformation of the society. Sircar’s innovative themes and experiments with the performances led to various social movements in the modern Indian Theatre. Through his plays, Sircar depicted the innate search for the ways to change the society for better. His plays, therefore portrayed the actual reality of commoners’ life. The plays captured the exact essence and sensibilities of common people with their real-life pain, problems and sufferings. Most of his dramas focussed on socio-political situation in India, especially Bengal.
Badal Sircar, was awarded India’s highest honour in the field of Theatre by the National Academy for the performing arts. “For his eminence in the field of drama and his contribution to its enrichment Sri Badal Sircar, receives the Sangeet Natak Academy Award for play writing”. In 1969 he was awarded with the “Padmashree” award the greatest national recognition for artist in India. Badal Sircar died on 13th May 2011.