Nihsanga Samrat by Sunil Gangopadhyay [Hardcover]

Near Baranagar, in a dimly lit room of a reddish two-story house by BT Road, a restless middle-aged man paces back and forth. The only thing visible in the dark is the glow of the cigar in his mouth. Occasionally, he imagines the spotlight suddenly illuminating a newly decorated stage. He hears the audience's cheers. Suddenly, reality breaks through his illusion. He mutters, "It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul... What is the cause?"

This man is Shishir Kumar Bhaduri, the uncrowned emperor of Bengali theater. No one equals him in acting, a fact acknowledged not only by audiences but also by his fiercest rivals in the theater world. He could captivate both local and international audiences with his performances. Yet, his pain lies elsewhere. Shishir Kumar’s dream was to free Bengali theater from the chains of foreign techniques and re-establish it in its own cultural soil. But every time he tried to introduce something new, the audience rejected it. His commitment to artistic integrity meant he couldn’t manage the business side of theater, and gradually, he went bankrupt.

Now, even from the last refuge in the Baranagar house, he is being forced out. In the bare room, in the twilight of evening, he walks regally surrounded by a heap of books, verses of Rabindranath and Shakespeare, and the memory of Kankabati—the woman who carried his child but, before dying at just twenty-two, lamented to Shishir’s brother, "Your brother never married me."

This explosive and extraordinary novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay, titled Nishongo Samrat (The Lonely Emperor), portrays the colorful life of Shishir Kumar Bhaduri.