On Theatre

9781234567897

Seagull Books, 2009

200 pages

Price INR 425.00
Book Club Price INR 340.00
INR 425.00
In stock
SKU
pro_46

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This collection of Dutt ’s theatre writings, including the transcript of a round-table on ‘Jatra and Its Relevance ’ that he participated in, records the evolution of his theatre sensibility, nurtured on Shakespeare and Communism, Jatra and Sophocles. No play escaping his attention, and no actor or director held sacred, Dutt attacks and analyses, compliments and condemns, venting both his ire and his appreciation with equal gusto, and reveals, in the process, his high expectations not only of his contemporaries but, most importantly, also of himself. Utpal Dutt  (1929 –93), playwright, director and actor, an inspiration and role model for the activist theatre person. Whether through the proscenium theatre, street performance, the traditional strolling theatre-in-the-round, or cinema, Dutt tried to take revolutionary theatre to the widest mass of people, with political messages for every turning point in a highly sensitive and rapidly changing political scenario, redefining his relationship with the political leadership again and again, getting into violent confrontations with various forces, being driven underground, and getting jailed in the process. His legacy of plays and other writing remain a valuable chapter in Indian theatre history.   This book is published by Seagull Books.

Utpal Dutt

Utpal Dutta (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded. the 'Little Theater Group' in 1947, which enacted many English, Shakespearean and Brecht plays, in a period now known as the 'Epic theater' period, before immersing itself completely in highly political and radical theatre. His plays became apt vehicle of the expression for his Marxist ideologies, visible in socio-political plays like, Kallol (1965), Manusher Adhikar, Louha Manob (1964), Tiner Toloar and Maha-Bidroha. He also acted over 100 Bengali and Hindi films in his career spanning 40 years, and remains most known for his roles in films like Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (1969), Satyajit Ray’s Agantuk (1991), Gautam Ghose’s Padma Nadir Majhi (1993) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's breezy comedies such as Gol Maal (1979) and Rang Birangi (1983). He received National Film Award for Best Actor in 1970 and three Filmfare Best Comedian Awards. In 1990, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre, awarded him its highest award the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to theatre.