Dutt, Utpal (1929-1993), an Indian actor and motion-picture director who was a major figure in Hindi and Bengali films. Dutt also acted in several English-language movies. Dutt was known for his commitment to revolutionary Communism and political theater and cinema. His controversial politics often brought him into conflict with the authorities. He was once imprisoned for several months because the West Bengal state government thought that one of his movies provoked unrest. Several of his plays were officially banned. He insisted on bringing theater as close to the people as possible, often performing in rural areas. Shortly before his death, Dutt wrote: “All popular films are not good, but a good film must always necessarily be popular.” Dutt made more than 200 movie appearances, most in Bengali films, but he also appeared in scores of Hindi films and several English-language films. He often said that he acted in movies to finance his political plays, which were often performed while the events to which they reacted were still fresh in the public memory—sometimes even the next day.
Dutt’s first movie appearance was in Michael Madhusudan (1950), in which he played the title role, that of the Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt, who lived in the 1800’s. The role was the first of Utpal Dutt’s many successes as a movie actor. He received particular acclaim for his roles in the American director James Ivory’s English-language movies, including Shakespeare Wallah (1964), The Guru (1969), and Bombay Talkie (1970).
One of Dutt’s finest performances came in the Indian director Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (1969), for which he received the National Film Award for Best Actor sponsored by the Film Federation of India. Dutt also appeared in a number of the Indian director Satyajit Ray’s films.
Megh (1961) was the first movie that Dutt directed. It is a relatively conventional thriller, but most of Dutt’s later movies contain elements of the radical politics that Dutt increasingly supported as he grew older. Bengali history also plays a major role in several of Dutt’s movies, including Jhor (1978) and Baishakhi Megh (1981). In Search of Theatre (1986) is a four-part television history of Bengali theater.
Utpal Dutt was born on March 29, 1929, in Barisal, now in Bangladesh. He was educated in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. In 1947, he founded the Calcutta Little Theatre Group. Early in his career, he acted with the British actor and director Geoffrey Kendal’s Shakespeareana theater company, which toured India performing the work of the English playwright William Shakespeare for a wide range of audiences. Kendal became known as the “Shakespeare Wallah,” and the 1964 movie of that name is based on his diaries. Even during Dutt’s most successful years as a movie actor, he continued to work in the theater. He died in Calcutta on Aug. 19, 1993.
