Sengupta was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, the son of Anant Sengupta and Usha Prabha Sengupta. He studied at the
Scottish Church College of the
University of Calcutta where he earned his B.A. and M.A degrees in English literature. He started his professional career as a lecturer of Sreegopal Banerjee College at Mogra, Hooghly and was formerly a reader in English at the
Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College, Calcutta, and a visiting lecturer in the Drama Department of
Rabindra Bharati University. In 1961 he joined the
Kolkata-based theatre group
Nandikar and in the early 1970s started to direct several plays for the group. In the late 1970s he became the leader of the group. He had directed many plays including Football, Feriwalar Mrityu among others. He received several awards, including the highest national award from
Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1980. He has also appeared in some
Bengali art films,
Bernardo Bertolucci's
Little Buddha, and
Roland Joffé's
City of Joy. He was married to
Swatilekha Sengupta, who was one of the leading actresses of Nandikar. His daughter
Sohini Sengupta is one of the leading actresses in theatre and films. Many of his students and protegé have gone on to become famous in their own right in Bengali theater, such as
Parthapratim Deb and
Debshankar Haldar. ==Filmography==