Utpal Dutt Biography-great Indian actor, director, writer, and playwright.

Utpal Dutt was a great Indian actor, director, writer, and playwright. He was one of the leading personalities who took Bengali Theatre to a new height. From a theater actor, he became an actor in Bengali and Hindi film actor and enriched the world of films in India.

Early Life

Utpal Dutt born on 29 March in 1929 in Barisal, present Bangladesh. His family was Hindu Kayastha and well known for educated members. His father was Girijaranjan Dutta. He finished his matriculation from St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata in 1945 and graduated in 1949 from Kolkata University.

Career

Dutt first started his career by appearing in English Theatre. He acted in different dramas of Shakespear held in west Bengal. His fame grew more when he appeared in ‘Othello’ and established himself as a successful actor. He established ‘Little Theatre Group’ in 1949 and continued to perform in the dramas of Ibsen, Bernard Shaw, Maxim Gorky and Rabindranath Tagore. Gradually he became to turn into a leftist ideologist. After that, he founded ‘Indian People’s Theatre Association’ which was a cultural association of Marxist thoughts and aesthetics.

In the film world, Dutt’s first appearance was in 1950 when he acted in a historical film named ‘Michael Madhusudan’(1950) as a lead role. Then he started to appear in many Bengali films of Satyajit Roy, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Gautam Ghose and Basu Chatterjee. He appeared in Satyajit’s ‘Agantuk’(1991), ‘Joi Baba Felunath’(1979), ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’, Mrinal’s ‘Ek Adhuri Kahani’(1972), ‘Chorus’ and Gautam’s ‘Paar’, ‘Padma Nadir Majhi(1993)’. He appeared in many Hindi films as comic roles.

Utpal was an active supporter of the Communist Party of India. He started to stage many street dramas to preach the ideologies of the Communist Party. He was one of the supporters of the Naxalite Movement of the late 60’s. The state government of West Bengal once put him into jail for his aesthetic works.

Utpal Dutt achieved National film Award for Best Actor, Filmfare Best Comedian Award, and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for his outstanding contribution towards art and culture of India. His wife Shova Sen was an actress and theater performer. Dutt died on 19 August in 1993 by a heart attack.