Playwright-director-actor Manoj Mitra has written about 70 plays and filmscripts and is famous for his lead roles in films by Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, Basu Chatterjee and others. He has been Sisir Kumar Bhaduri Professor of Drama at Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta. He was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in 1980 for Banchharamer Bagan (written by him and directed by Tapan Sinha), the Sangeet Natak Award (1985) and the Asiatic Society Award (2005) for his overall contribution to theatre, Manoj Mitra heads the theatre group Sundaram and lives and works in Calcutta.