Utpal Dutt

29 March 1929 19 August 1993 was an Indian actor director and writerplaywright He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre when he founded the Little Theatre Group in 1949 This group enacted many English Shakespearean and Brecht plays in a period now known as the Epic theatre period before it immersed itself completely in highly political and radical theatre His plays became an apt vehicle for the expression of his Marxist ideologies visible in sociopolitical plays such as Kallol 1965 Manusher Adhikar Louha Manob 1964 Tiner Toloar and MahaBidroha He also acted in over 100 Bengali and Hindi films in a career spanning 40 years and remains most known for his roles in films such as Mrinal Sens Bhuvan Shome 1969 Satyajit Rays Agantuk 1991 Gautam Ghoses Padma Nadir Majhi 1992 and Hrishikesh Mukherjees breezy Hindi comedies such as Gol Maal 1979 and Rang Birangi 19831234 He also did the role of a sculptor Sir Digindra Narayan in the episode Seemant Heera of Byomkesh Bakshi TV series on Doordarshan in 1993 shortly before his death