Pramod Kapoor (born 1953) is an Indian writer and publisher, who in 1978 founded

Roli Books Roli Books is an Indian publishing house that produces books pertaining to Indian heritage. It was founded in 1978 by Pramod Kapoor and is jointly run along with his family. Its imprints include Lustre Press for illustrated books, India Ink f ...

, a publishing company that prints books pertaining to Indian heritage. In 2016, for his contributions to publishing, he was awarded the

Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

. The first book he authored, ''Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography'', was published in 2016. It led him to write ''1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny; Last War of Independence'', released in 2022. Previously he had produced illustrated versions of Khushwant Singh's ''

Train to Pakistan ''Train to Pakistan'' is a historical novel by writer Khushwant Singh, published in 1956. It recounts the Partition of India in August 1947 through the perspective of Mano Majra, a fictional border village. Instead of depicting the Partiti ...

'' and

Manohar Malgonkar Manohar Malgonkar (Marathi language, Marathi: 2 July 1913- 14 June, 2010[karwar district, was an Indian author of both fiction and nonfiction in the English language. He was also an army officer, a big game hunter, a civil servant, a mine ow ...

's ''The Men Who Killed Gandhi''. He compiled the photographs of photojournalist

Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971), an American list of photographers, photographer and documentary photography, documentary photographer, became arguably best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take p ...

in one of her biographies, picked several previously unpublished images from Britain to be included in ''New Delhi: The Making of a Capital'' (2009), and photo-edited the 'past' section of ''Calcutta Then – Kolkata Now'' (2019).

Early life and education

Pramod Kapoor was born in 1953 in

Jorasanko Jorasanko is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. It is so called because of the two (''jora'') wooden or bamboo bridges (''sanko'') that spanned a small stream at this point. History Apart from the disting ...

Kolkata district Kolkata district (formerly known as Calcutta district) is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Kolkata. History Long before the British came to India, the ''zamindari'' (land lordship) of all lands from Barisha to ...

of India, into a family associated with the distribution of paper in Uttar Pradesh. He was inspired at the age of ten when in 1963, he saw a portrait of

Allen Lane Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...

, the founder of

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

. During his college years he worked for his brother, who owned a printing press.

Career

After working in Delhi with

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

for two and half years, he founded

in 1978, initially to publish illustrated books, the first being one on Rajasthan. The business is family run; Kapoor works alongside his wife Kiran, son Kapil and daughter Priya. In 2014, he acquired India Ink

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

for fiction. Other imprints include Lustre Press for illustrated books, and the Lotus Collection for biographies, non-illustrated non-fiction books.

Awards

In 2016, for his contributions to publishing and to promoting India's heritage, he was awarded the

, presented by François Richier.

Selected works

Illustrated books

Kapoor edited Khushwant Singh's ''

'' (1956), published in 2006, with over 60 photographs by American photojournalist

. Two years later he republished

's ''The Men Who Killed Gandhi'' (1978), with photographs. He picked several previously unpublished images and newspaper cuttings from Britain to be included in ''New Delhi: The Making of a Capital'' (2009), and showed the wide coverage given in England on the extent of the project on building New Delhi. In ''Witness to Life and Freedom: Margaret Bourke-White in India and Pakistan'' (2013), he compiled the photographs by Bourke-White. He was photo editor of the 'past' section of ''Calcutta Then – Kolkata Now'' (2019). It contains essays by

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray Sunanda K. Datta-Ray is an Indian journalist. He has been editor of ''The Statesman'' (Calcutta and New Delhi) and has also written for the '' International Herald Tribune'' and ''Time''. He was editor-in-Residence at the East-West Center in Hon ...

for 'then' and Indrajit Hazra for 'now', and images include those of polo matches,

pukka sahib Pukka sahib ( ) is a slang term taken from Hindi words for "absolute" ("first class," "absolutely genuine" for English users) and "master," but meaning "true gentleman" or "excellent fellow." The expression was used in the British Empire to describ ...

s, and the diminishing Anglo-Indian, Chinese, Jewish and Armenian communities. The book was described in the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' as "an elegant

Tête-bêche In philately, ''tête-bêche'' ( French for "head-to-tail", lit. "head-to-head") is a joined pair of stamps in which one is upside-down in relation to the other, produced intentionally or accidentally. Like any pair of stamps, a pair of ''tête ...

book".

''Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography'' (2016)

'' Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography'' (2016) was the first book he authored. In it, Gandhi's biography is told in pictures, including photographs of Gandhi with members of the

Greyville Cricket Club Greyville is an area in Durban, South Africa. It is on the flat land west of the Durban city centre, at the foot of the Berea. It includes the Greyville Racecourse. Initially, Greyville was a middle-class and working class white area, populated by ...

in Durban, a painting of Gandhi having surgery under a

hurricane lamp A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a ta ...

in Poona, an artist's impression of the

Great Trial of 1922 The Great Trial of 1922 took place in March 1922 following the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas K. Gandhi for sedition. He appeared in the Ahmedabad court, charged under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, without counsel. He pleaded guilty to ...

, and a portrait of Gandhi having tea with

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

and Queen Mary in

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

. Others include Gandhi with

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

. Kapoor subsequently began to work on a book titled ''My Experiments with Gandhi''.

''1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny; Last War of Independence''

He reported in an interview for the ''Hindustan Times'' that while reading volumes 89 and 90 of ''The Complete Works of Mahatma Gandhi'' in his research for Gandhi's biography, he became interested in the Royal Indian Navy mutiny. It led him to look at historical records, newspaper reports, mutineer memoirs, and interviews with their descendants, to produce the book '' 1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny; Last War of Independence''. It was reviewed by

Vinay Lal Vinay Lal is a historian of India. He is Professor of History and Asian American Studies at UCLA. He writes widely on the history and culture of colonial and modern India, popular and public culture in India, cinema, historiography, the politic ...

who described the work as "a superb reminder" of an event near forgotten.

References

External links

*{{cite web , title=Results for 'Pramod Kapoor' orldCat.org, url=https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=pramod+kapoor , website=www.worldcat.org , language=en 1953 births People from Kolkata Living people Banaras Hindu University alumni Indian non-fiction writers Indian publishers (people) Indian company founders