Tapas Sen was born in 1924 in Dhubri, Assam. His father was Matilal Sen and mother's name was Subarnalata [6] He started his career in theater with the production of a shadow play on the 1943 Bengal famine with Mrinal Sen.[7][6] Amongst his most noted lighting installations are for son et lumière, sound-and-light-shows at historical venues in Delhi, like the Red Fort, Purana Quila and at the Qutb Minar. He also created lighting for noted stage venues across India including Birla Theatre in Kolkata, Siri Fort Auditorium, Kamani Auditorium in Delhi, and Rabindra Natya Manch in Mumbai. Besides doing architectural lighting design for important outdoor venues and monuments like Khajuraho, Konark, Elephanta and Ujjain. In 1988, he designed the lighting for the opening ceremonies of the "Festival of India" at Moscow and Paris, under Dashrath Patel. He was also part of the 50-person team for the lighting design of the Eiffel Tower in 2000. The entire design was done by 50 light designers and engineers using 5 lifts for a span of 2 years, 2 months and 5 days. [3]
He remained active even into his late years, in January 2006, he did the lighting for a production of Tagore's play Visarjan which premiered at Madhusudan Mancha in Kolkata.[10] He died on 28 June 2006 in Kolkata due to a heart attack, at the age of 81. His body was donated for medical research.[4]
