Shekhar Chatterjee was a renowned Indian actor and film director, born in Kolkata in the year 1924. He embarked on his professional journey in the Bengali theatre scene in the 1950s, affiliating himself with various leftist theatre groups, including the Indian People's Theatre Association, Little Theatre Group, Theatre Workshop, and his own Theatre Unit, which he founded in 1958.
As a stage actor, Chatterjee gained recognition for his remarkable performances in Shakespearean roles and for his portrayal of Shardul Singh in Utpal Dutt's 1965 play Kallol. His directorial endeavors primarily focused on the works of German-language playwrights such as Bertold Brecht, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Peter Handke, and Franz Xaver Kroetz.
Chatterjee's Brecht productions were distinctive in their approach, as they rarely adapted to a local setting. Although critics universally praised this approach as "authentic," his colleague Utpal Dutt criticized it for failing to convey Brecht's political symbolism to an Indian audience.
