Archives: Press Reviews

Kanchan Karopady Bannerjee has done a wonderful job of recounting the efforts of an extraordinary family from the tiny Bhanap community. Not only were the Benegals gifted enough to work across a diversity of professions, they also personified selfless nationalism, and were change-makers who were supported by strong women in their lives. I recommend this engagingly written book as essential reading for all ages –

“The first, Honorary Tiger, takes a fascinating look at the life of Billy Arjan Singh, who is now 88 years old and still fighting for the rights of the tigers of Dudhwa. Written by Duff Hart-Davis, it takes you through Billy’s early life-his first tiger shot at the age of 14, his amazing interactions with Jim Corbett and, of course, his experiences of World War

Billy’ Arjan Singh, champion of India’s tigers, has often been compared to a big male tiger: feared by some, admired by many, forever unique. Duff Hart-Davis, the author of Honorary Tiger: The Life of Billy Arjan Singh (Roli; Rs 350) is a well-regarded English journalist and natural-historian, with many books and the encyclopaedia Fauna Britannica to his name. Billy was born into the princely Kapurthala

“What was it about the Royal Indian Navy mutiny that drew your attention and held your interest for so many years? While researching my earlier book, an illustrated biography of Mahatma Gandhi, I speed read 100 volumes of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. In volume 89/90 there were letters that Gandhi ji wrote to Sardar Patel and few others in the Congress party. I

In 1946, as Independence was approaching, a group of sailors in a Navy establishment on Mumbai’s southern tip rose in revolt. The unrest soon spread to several other parts of the country. The uprising, argues Pramod Kapoor in his new book 1946: Last War of Independence, Royal Indian Navy Mutiny, wasn’t just a protest against service conditions and racism. It was a crucial event in

“You stumbled upon references to the RIN mutiny while researching an earlier book titled Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography. What inspired you to dig deeper? I was reading Volumes 89 and 90 of The Complete Works of Mahatma Gandhi when I saw some statements and letters by him, which were related to the mutiny. He had a major public disagreement with Aruna Asaf Ali. I wanted

In February 1946, after WW-II had ended, nearly 20,000 ratings of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) posted in 78 ships in different Indian ports rebelled against their masters. Their rebellion was only partly against their officers; it was just as much against the occupation of India by the alien British rulers. It was part of a saga of India nationalism. The book admirably tells this

The book is full of vignettes which reveal the mutiny in stark relief. Most important is the cast of characters that reads like a who’s who of the Left. Ironically, the Communist Party of India had supported the British throughout the Second World War because Britain and the USSR were allies. That alliance ended with the war.

Pramod Kapoor’s book begins by revisiting Calcutta in March 1965 — when Utpal Dutt staged his play, Kallol, at the Minerva Theatre, dramatising with flourish and alarum the Naval Mutiny of 1946. Dutt’s play historically coincided with the release of The Sound of Music in New York, Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming in London, and the commencement of Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam. Kallol (literally the

As rightly remarked by Shyam Benegal, a footnote in the history of the freedom movement has been turned into an exciting and important account in Pramod Kapoor’s 1946 Last War of Independence: Royal Indian Navy Mutiny. Pramod himself stumbled onto this forgotten story while researching for his book on Gandhi: “After the draft of the Gandhi book was done, I re-read the Royal Indian Navy