Telegraph

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 ‘deep rolling sound of the waves’; “commotion” or “hubbub” in Kapoor’s translation) marked a turning point in Indian theatre: despite government opposition, media blackout, mob attacks and bombings, the play was a roaring success.