Ashokenagar Nattyamukh started their journey on 2nd September, 1999. Avi Chakraborty, Sangita Sarkar, Angshuman Sarkar and Samiran Dey started the group. Invited directors work here up to 2004. After that Angshuman Sarkar directed the drama like ‘Bole’ (2002-03), ‘Beulo’ (2003-04), ‘Avisar’ (2004-05) and ‘Ek Hotochhara Yuddho Chai’ (2005-06). Avi Chakraborty was the playwright of those dramas. In the year 2006 Avi started his directorial job through Operation ‘2010’ by Bratya Basu.

The first and foremost thing was that we tried to create a completely different language in the field of theatre. Whether it was self- identity or form, a new character was created. We wanted a completely different form and subject from the then prevalent nature of the drawing room dramas based on middle class values. Hence we started experimentations. Sometime it included space while sometime characters. We also tried to understood life but in a different perspective.

From the very beginning we have focused not only in theater productions but also in continuous publishing of journals, arranging workshops, seminars and theatre festivals at various levels - district to national. Our theatre festival Khola Hawa is now recognized by many stalwarts of this country. In this lockdown period Nattamukh has evolved itself as a full-fledged publishing house as well. The long and enriching interviews of Badal Sarkar with Navendu Sen and Syamal Ghosh have already been published and available in all recognized e-book platforms. Our next venture is a unique compilation edited by of Shekhar Samaddar on the theatrical thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore, called Buker Majhe Biswalok.

In the early days of 2000 we had conducted seminars on the “Need of including theatre in syllabus”. We have always targetd to create a center for excellence for theatre. Prabir Guha, Sanwali Mitra, Bratya Basu, Debsankar Halder, Manish Mitra, Subhasish Ganguly, Arpita Ghosh, Sudip Sanyal and other eminent personalities have conducted workshops for us. We had also organized a fortnightly technical workshop in 2015-16 with National School of Drama.

In theatrical productions we have definite route to follow. We tried to adapt literary pieces within our productions. We focused on poetics, on suppressed, on proletariats. We have taken our refuge to Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagre, Abul Basar, Rabisankar Bal to evn Swapankumar. We have also staged plays by Rabindranath, Shambhu Mitra, Mohit Chatterjee, Navendu Sen and Bratya Basu. The renowned director Satyabrata Raut has directed one of our productions in 2019.