Arambam Somorendra was a dramatist of Manipuri theatre. He was the son of a scholar and poet in Sanskrit language - A. Dorendrajit and great-grandson of King Surchandra. He was born in the year 1935, and represented the new generation of democratized middle-class social workers inheriting the values and heritage of the landowning nobility. Out of his more than forty plays, the early ones reflect this humanist temper. He was one of the pioneering writers to modernize Manipuri theatre. His work in the late 1960s and 1970s dealt with social tension, with romantic undertones where the individual`s quest for self and identity became issues. However, he did not dabble in experimental writing. Although at the forefront of anguished youth searching for roots, dignity, and freedom from oppression, in his drama he subtly underplayed the political.
Judge Saheb Ki Imung or "Judge Sahib`s Family" in 1967, Dasa or "Misfortune" in 1968, Mirang or "Cobweb" in 1968, Karbar i.e. `Business` in 1969 were first produced by amateur groups and college societies, but found a permanent base in Aryan Theatre. Leipnklei or "Earth Flower" in 1992 won the Sahitya Akademi award. Somorendra was also an actor and administrator of the Aryan Theatre and associated with radio drama, itinerant clowns of the Shumang Lila, and altruistic organizations of writers and rural workers. Arambam Somorendra fell to assassins` bullets in 2000. This famous personality died in the year 2000.
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