Where Queens Took the Stage: Chapal Rani and the Art of Becoming

Join us for a conversation between Sandip Roy, author of Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal, and PS21 Artistic Director Vallejo Gantner.

Roy's biography is a portrait of Chapal Bhaduri—celebrated as Chapal Rani—the last iconic female impersonator of the Bengali jatra stage, a tradition where men donned saris and embodied queens, goddesses, and heroines for travelling theatres. As societal norms evolved and women entered the theatre, Chapal faced an identity crisis on and off the stage. Hailing from the acting family of Sisir Kumar Bhaduri, Prabha Devi and Ketaki Dutta, Chapal emerged as a major presence on the Bengali stage in the 1950s, only to see his career disintegrate by the early 1970s.

Blurring lines between history and imagination, the book intertwines real events with evocative fictional vignettes to paint an intimate portrait of an artist torn between stardom and invisibility. It also explores the fluidities of gender in South Asia, where identity is often a delicate interplay of tradition, performance and personal truth.

Sandip Roy is a writer, columnist and podcaster based in Kolkata. He is a columnist for Mint Lounge and The Hindu and hosts the Sandip Roy Show on Indian Express. His weekly audio dispatches from Kolkata have aired on public radio KALW in San Francisco since 2012. His work has appeared in the New York Times, BBC, the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, the Times of India, Firstpost, Huffington Post, Conde Nast Traveller and other publications. For more than a decade Roy was editor of Trikone, the world’s oldest magazine on LGBTQ+ South Asian issues. His first novel is Don’t Let Him Know.

As the Artistic & Executive Director of PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance, Vallejo Gantner oversees the continued growth of PS21’s interdisciplinary programming across its 100-acre campus. Over the past twenty-five years he has led innovative arts organizations in the United States, Australia and Ireland. Always thinking about the performance arts in an interdisciplinary way, he has championed a diverse array of artists, experimental works and cutting-edge ideas.

This event is free and open to the public — we kindly ask that you RSVP in advance so we can plan accordingly. Following the talk, copies of Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal will be available for sale and signing by the author.