‘Imprint of a Printer’ records a life and an era of Indian printing

26 August 2026: Imprint of a Printer, the 2022 biography of Indian print professional Prof. Kamal Mohan Chopra, records his career alongside the industry’s shift towards digital production. Journalist P. P. S. Gill wrote the book, which was released at DCRUST in Murthal, Haryana, on 7 September 2022, giving print readers a personal route into decades of change.

Why does the Imprint of a Printer biography matter ?

Rajendrakumar Anayath’s submitted review reads the book on two levels. It tells Chopra’s personal story, but it also follows the technologies, businesses, educational work and professional bodies that shaped Indian printing during his career. That wider frame gives the biography value beyond a conventional account of one person’s achievements.

The book’s 2022 release is documented by Screen Print India and PrintWeek India. Both reports identify Gill as the author, Chopra as the subject and Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatraya as the person who released the volume at an international conference at DCRUST.

A career shaped by changes in print production

The review places Chopra’s working life against a long technical shift: mechanical production gave way to electronics, digital prepress, computer-controlled workflows, newer finishing systems and more connected production lines. Gill uses those changes as the setting for a story about adaptation rather than treating machinery as the main character.

Benny Landa wrote the foreword. His involvement fits the book’s theme because Landa helped bring direct-from-computer commercial colour printing into the pressroom. A drupa profile of Benny Landa records that he founded Indigo Digital Press and unveiled the Indigo E-Print 1000 digital colour press in 1993. The foreword therefore links Chopra’s professional account with a major stage in the wider digital-print story.

What does the book say about professional leadership ?

According to Anayath’s review, Chopra’s contribution extended beyond his own printing business. The book covers his work with professional organisations, education, exhibitions, conferences, publications and international print networks. At the time of the release, reports described Chopra as a former president of the All India Federation of Master Printers and chairman of the World Print and Communication Forum.

This institutional work matters because equipment alone does not build an industry. Associations create places to exchange working knowledge; conferences expose printers to new methods, while publications preserve lessons that might otherwise remain inside individual firms. The book presents Chopra’s career through that collective work as well as through business.

Printing education runs through the story

Anayath gives particular weight to Chopra’s involvement in education. Print courses must keep pace with changing prepress, production, colour, finishing and workflow practices, yet curriculum changes often trail what printers use on the shop floor. Professionals who teach, mentor and work with institutions can shorten that delay.

Seen this way, Imprint of a Printer asks a practical question: what should experienced printers leave behind besides a successful company? Its answer, as interpreted in the review, includes stronger institutions, shared knowledge and people prepared to handle the next technical shift.

Who is the book for ?

The biography will interest printers who lived through the move into digital production, students studying print technology, educators and association members. It may also appeal to readers of Indian business history because it shows industrial change through one professional life rather than through a list of machines and dates.

FAQs ….

Who wrote Imprint of a Printer ?
Veteran journalist P. P. S. Gill wrote Imprint of a Printer, a biography of Prof. Kamal Mohan Chopra. Contemporary reports also identify Gill as a former Punjab information commissioner and former bureau chief of The Tribune.

When and where was the book released ?
The book was released on 7 September 2022 during the International Conference on Printed Electronics and Smart Packaging at DCRUST in Murthal, Haryana. Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatraya released it.