He was the most applauded Chhou dancer based in Charida, a village in the Baghmundi Community Block in the Jhalda subdivision of the Purulia district in West Bengal. He, who is on the threshold of his 96th year this March, is the last gasp of a cultural tradition he had nurtured since the age of eight as a child prodigy.
A contemporary of the Padma Sri Gambhir Singh Mura, the exponent of the Purulia school of Chhau, Anil Sutradhar is the founder of the 'Manbhum Mukhosh Ghar' (Manbhum Mask House). His contribution to teaching, nourishing and spreading the legacy of Chhou dance has few equals. As the Manager of Gambhir Singh's team, he spearheaded a cultural movement that animated the language of performing art. As a script writer with a natural gift for improvisation, the dance performance of Chhou was at its peak as the masks created by him would not only remain a vibrant exercise in performing rhetoric but also added a unique range to the act of storytelling in its interweaving of mythical folklores with variegated images from the classics. He also infused modern sensibilities in his organic composition of Chhou dance. Unfortunately, these compositions and experiences are not documented for posterity to dawn upon and gain insights.
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