Based on the life of the 18th-19th century Bengali freedom fighter Syed Mir Nisar Ali a.k.a. Titumir, Dutt's play is a blistering attack not just on the marauding, vampirically-taxing East India Company in 18th century pre-British crown-ruled India, but also on the new, emerging comprador class of zamindars who facilitated Company rule while gorging themselves on the scraps. The Muslim peasant revolutionary Titumir became a lightning rod against Company Raj and its local stooges.