Bidhayak Bhattacharya was born in the year 1907. His name for stage was chosen as Bagalacharan. Bidhayak Bhattacharya was a popular Bengali dramatist who can claim credit for changing the historical and Puranic predilection of commercial Bengali theatre to middle-class family melodrama in the late 1930s. His plays Meghmukti i.e. `Clearing of the Clouds` in 1938, Matir ghar i.e. `House of Clay` in 1939, Bish bachhar age i.e. `Twenty Years Ago` in 1939, and Rakter dak i.e. `Call of Blood` in 1941 effected this change. They were also favourites with amateur groups and office drama societies in Calcutta. His dramatizations of similar domestic novels like Nirupama Devi`s Annapurnar mandir i.e. `Annapurna`s Temple` in 1940 and Saratchandra Chatterjee`s Baikunther uil i.e. `Baikuntha`s Will` in 1944 received enthusiastic audience support. Fateh Lohani based the motion picture Akash Aar Mati in 1959 on one of his stories. Bidhayak Bhattacharya`s novels include Chaka Ghurchhe, Brddha Bidhata, Ratri Yader Din etc.
However, the social realism of Kshudha i.e. `Hunger` in 1957 ran for 573 nights on the Biswaroopa stage, far surpassed his previous successes. Antony kabiyal i.e. `Antony the Poet-duellist` in 1966 proved very popular and attracted a lot of audience towards it. `Antony the Poet-duellist` was about a nineteenth century Portuguese man who settled in Bengal and challenged the locals in conventional Kabigan song-bouts. Bhattacharya wrote a few hagiographical plays like Jhansir Rani i.e. `Rani of Jhansi` in 1954 and Jugabatar Sri Ramkrishna i.e. Ramakrishna, Avatar of the Age` in 1954. His one-act radio drama Tahar namti Ranjana or `Her Name Was Ranjana` remains a perennial choice for broadcast because of the excellent acting of Sombhu and Tripti Mitra. Himself a noted actor, Bhattacharya was also an able singer in his youth.
Bidhayak Bhattacharya received many honours for his contributions to literature and journalism, among them Madhusanglapi` from Bhatpara and `Sahitya Mahasnatak` from Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan in 1961 were famous. He also received `Sudhangshubala Puraskar` in 1967 from the university of Calcutta and `Shatabarsiki Puraskar` on the centenary of Bangla theatre. He died on 15 November 1986.
