Murulimohan Singha: An unsung actor of Bishnupriya Manipuri Community By: Debasish Sinha

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Murulimohan Singha: An unsung actor of Bishnupriya Manipuri Community

By Debasish Sinha



Eminent actor of Bishnupriya Manipuri community, Late Murulimohan Singha (1921-1993) was born to Golapsena Singha and Maya Devi at Batirgram village, Kabuganj in the Cachar district of Assam. He was the second of the four siblings.

In the early twentieth century, Murulimohan Singha had a tilt towards acting and went on with it till the end of the twentieth century. During this period, he acted in various Bishnupriya Manipuri and Bengali historic, spiritual jatras and theatres. He possessed all the qualities of a lead actor and entertained the audiences with his acting skills. One of those famous was the role of a British officer – Warren Hastings – in the Bengali Jatra ‘Polasir Pothay’ was highly popular.

Murulimohan Singha, a contemporary actor to other Bishnupriya Manipuri actors like Ashwini Kumar Singha, Golapbabu Singha, Principal, Nabadwip Mishra, Sanskrit teacher, Madhababu Singha, teacher, etc., Later the likes of Debadutta Singha (teacher), Jagganath Mishra, Prof. Shriti Kumar Singha etc., also got attached to this group. Most of the documented records were sincerely preserved with Debadutta Singha and anybody interested to know more about this theatre group, scripts and plays can approach him for further studies.

Murulimohan Singha during his hay days was always offered the lead roles for his acting qualities in various Bishnupriya Manipuri jatras such as ‘Sabitri Satyaban’ – role of Satyaban; ‘Parasuram’ – role of Parasuram; in Raja Harischandra, he played a side role as he wanted to watch Principal Golapbabu Singha play the lead role.

In Bengali jatras, Murulimohan Singha also played lead roles in the likes of ‘Mayar Daan’, ‘Uma Tara’, ‘Debotar Grash’, ‘Polashir Pothay’, ‘Rup Holo Abhisap’, ‘Gangar Chapanto’ etc. He also bagged the best actor award for the role of Lalchand in ‘Rup Holo Abhisap’ played during a competition at the Silchar District Library where participants from Calcutta and Manipur also participated.

During his short stay at Shantiniketan in Calcutta, he was offered a side role in a theatre play with eminent Bengali greats like Ashok Kumar and Bhanu Bandopadhay. I heard from my mother Kamala Sinha (daughter of Murulimohan Singha), that Bhanu Bandopadhay planned to introduce Murulimohan Singha in Bengali movies, which could not happen as Murulimohan Singha had to leave Calcutta due to the Assam Bhasa Andolan became more active.

It’s quite disappointing, that, all the above records of Murulimohan Singha has been derived from his family members and well-wishers, as the family members couldn’t preserve any such documents related to the golden era of this eminent actor. Infact this article is the first of it’s kind on this eminent actor. So, its an earnest request that if anybody have any documents/photographs related to his acting career is requested to contact the author of this article.


(The author of this article is the grandson of Late Murulimohan Singha and presently employed in The Assam Tribune. Email: donguw2012@gmail.com, mobile: 9101881860).

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