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English: Biography of Jnanesh Mukherjee

Family Background Jnanesh Mukherjee was one of the eminent personality of Bengali Theatre & Film as Actor & Director as well as Script Writer . Jnanesh Mukherjee ,was the second son of Jagadish Mukherjee & Nirmala Debi born on 5th July 1926 . In Childhood, Jnanesh Mukherjee, along with parents & brothers Paresh Mukherjee & Ratnesh Mukherjee , SistersUsha Banerjee , Bina Debi , Dolly Banerjee used to reside at Scott Lane near Bangabasi College at Sealdah Kolkata .Later on Jagadish Mukherjee purchased a house at Telipara Road , Bhowanipur , Kolkata . Jagadish Mukherjee was a school Teacher at Tirthapati Institution . Jnanesh Mukherjee after completion of college did not go for a job other than some small tenure of services in different organizations . From childhood Jnanesh Mukherjee was passionate about Theatre and from childhood used to take part in different local clubs but never thought about to take Theatre as a Profession but as the time passed with the responsibility as a family man Jnanesh Mukherjee made Theatre his Profession . In 1957 on 23rd January Jnanesh Mukherjee married Mukti Mukherjee who was from Behala , Kolkata . In 1959 , Jnanesh Mukherjee & Mukti Mukherjee ‘s only son Tapesh Mukherjee was born .Later on Jnanesh Mukherjee on 1992 shifted to Behala from Bhowanipur with his wife( Mukti Mukherjee) , son( Tapesh Mukherjee ) , daughter in law( Snigdha Mukherjee )& only granddaughter ( Sukanya Mukherjee ) . On 2nd June 2003 Jnanesh Mukherjee ‘s wife Mukti Mukherjee died at her Behala Residence & on 23rd June 2006 Jnanesh Mukherjee died at his Behala Residence . Jnanesh Mukherjee as Person & Individual Jnanesh Mukherjee was a strong man mentally and dare devil from childhood, during partition he was actively involved in rescue operation of refugees and also after independence and in riot stricken Kolkata . He was a man of struggle from childhood being a child from a Bengali lower middle class family has not got any special privilege in his life rather lots of major decisions he had to take by self . He was a great sports lover specially in form of cricket and he was the founder member of Cricket Club of Bhowanipur aka CCB presently in second division of Cricket league under CAB. He was a regular player at that time in form of opening pace attack bowler. He was never affiliated with any political parties but by ideology we was absolutely Left Minded. Though he was a self made man , he had some mental shortfalls of his life not being able to go for higher studies due to some financial problems in his family but his wish he fulfilled vicariously by giving full support to his son to get higher education . Jnanesh Mukherjee never believed in existence of God but never objected others belief or his belief on religion to his friends & family , even in his own house all type of religious rituals used to take place regularly . he was agnostic and not atheist. Jnanesh Mukherjee in Theatre & Film In Bengali Theatre contribution of Jnanesh Mukherjee was to a great extent. Approximately around 60 years his service in Bengali Theatre in form of Actor, Director, Script Writer, Translator has made history in Bengali Theatre . Starting his first professional performance at the age of 19 acting at Mahendra Gupta ‘s directed “Kalindi “ and earned a remuneration of Rs 15/- . Later on 1950 Jnanesh Mukherjee got associated with Gana Natya Sangha . At that time legendary people were present at IPTA like Hemango Biswas , Debabrata Biswas , Ritwick Ghatak , Salil Chowdhury , Suchitra Mitra , Hemanta Mukhopadhay & many more great artists . Jnanesh Mukherjee in between those star studded team gradually got a place by his outstanding performance of Acting, Directing, Script Writing calibre . In IPTA association Jnanesh Mukherjee impressed as Actor / Director in famous plays like Biru Mukherjee’s “Rahumukto” , “Sankranti” , Dinobondhu Mitro’s “Neel Darpan” , Rabindra Nath Tagore ‘s “Naukadubi”. By this time in 1952 he got an offer from Film Direcor Sudhir Mukhopdhay for acting in film “ Paser Bari” , later on with his hand Jnanesh Mukherjee got opportunity to work as character artist in three consequetive movies “Baser Kella”, “Aaj Sondhay” “Shapmochon” . Later on he worked with Ritwik Ghatak in film “Ajantrik” , “Bari theke Paliye” “Meghe Dhaka Tara “ ,”Komol Ghandhar” , Rajen Tarafdar’s “Ganga “ Mrinal Sen’s “Baise Sraban “ Mrigaya” & Sayajit Rays “ Abhijan “

In 1960 , getting inspired by Bharatiya Gononatyo Sangha, Jnanesh Mukherjee formed his own Theatre Group Mass Theatre , in this banner 25 to 26 Theatre has been produced , most remarkable plays “ Haraner Naat Jamai “ “Bamuner Meye” “Crus Bidhyo Cuba “ “ Maxim Gorki ‘s Maa “ In 1960 Jnanesh Mukherjee also joined in Professional Theatre Biswarupa , “ Down Train “ Jnanesh Mukherjee has acted in 18 production in Professional Theatre including some great production where he was both Actor & Director like “ Mallika “ , Aghotan “ “Bil Kis Begum “ etc . Jnanesh Mukherjee also acted in Plays organized by All India Radio & production of Kolkata Doordarshan . Jnanesh Mukherjee also directed Plays in many Office Recreation Clubs as well as for Jatra Palas . Later part of his Life he was Principal & Professor of a Film Institute & also Guest Lecturer at Rabindra Bharati University in Drama