Theatre in Bengal developed as a protest against the British Raj. The seed of contemporaneousness, which was sown back in the British era, gained a rather articulate contour in the hands of the famous Bengali theatre personalities like Girish Ghosh. The aim was then to make the mass aware of the then socio political scenario. Quite ideally therefore the playwrights, director and even the actors in Bengali theatre with their unparallel contribution illustrated the colonial fragrance in perhaps the right way. One such play of that time was Nil Darpan, which depicted the misery of the indigo cultivators. Dinabandhu Mitra with his refined creation; like " Sadhabhar Ekadasi" and Lilabati added to the maturity of the Bengali theatre whilst carrying it to the next level of maturity.

The famous stages of Bengali theatre like the Girish Mancha and star theatre then witnessed a huge change in order to befit the requirement where the aura of the "Classical dance drama " was no more and on the contrary emerged a whole new concept of theatre -- "Peoples Theatre" which was definitely "for the people and by the people".

It was much later the very concept of Bengali Theatre as the representation of the age-old British colonialism gradually faded away and theatre became lot more naturalistic. However, right after independence the very demand of the realistic theatre approach was so much vibrant that Famous theatre personalities like Utpal Dutta, Shambhu Mitra and Badal Sarkar designed a whole new concept - Realistic theatre in Bengali That was just the beginning of a history and still today Bengali theatre with its distinct aura and Natya is one of the well-recognized art form.

Stages in Bengali theatre
The famous stages in Bengali theatre still bears this rich history of Indian Natya so very expressively. The most famous theaters in Bengalee are Star Theatre, Academy Of Fine Arts, Rabindra Sadan, Girish Maanch Etc.