Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay
Born 30 March 1899
Jaunpur, British India
Died 22 September 1970 (aged 71)
Pune, India
Occupation Writer
Language Bengali
Notable works Byomkesh Bakshi stories, Baroda, the Ghost Hunter

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (Bengali: শরদিন্দু বন্দোপাধ্যায়; 30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was a Bengali writer. He was also actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. His most famous creation is the fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi.

He wrote different forms of prose: novels, short stories, plays and screenplays. However, his forte was short stories and novels. He wrote historical fiction like Kaler Mandira, GourMollar (initially named as Mouri Nodir Teere), Tumi Sandhyar Megh, Tungabhadrar Teere (all novels), Chuya-Chandan, Maru O Sangha (later made into a Hindi film named Trishangni) and stories of the unnatural with the recurring character Baroda, the Ghost Hunter. Besides, he wrote many songs and poems.

Personal life and education

He was born to Tarabhushan and Bijaliprabha Bandyopadhyay at his maternal grandparents' home in Jaunpur, United Province, India. The family hailed from Purnea, Bihar, India. He passed the matriculation examination in 1915 and took admission in Vidyasagar College, Calcutta. While studying there, he published his first work, Jaubansmriti, a collection of poems, at the age of 20. In 1919, he passed the B.A. examination. He studied law in Patna and then devoted his time to writing.

Critical review

Bandyopadhyay wrote short stories, historical as well as social novels, poems, songs, essays, etc. Besides, he also wrote several screen plays, some of which is of his own writings. His writings are always very short and generally have a twisty ending and in these regards, he can be compared to another great author, Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay, a.k.a. Bonoful. Humor, witty comments and satires are prevalent in his creations. The main theme of most of his writings is romance, basically it is the beautiful relationship between a man and a woman. He was very selective and a perfectionist.

Career

The first Byomkesh Bakshi work appeared in 1932. One of his earliest stories, Raktasandhya, appeared in Bengali in 1939. It was later included in The Scarlet Dusk (2003), a collection of 5 of his stories translated into English. He moved to Mumbai in 1938 to write screenplays for Bombay Talkies and other film banners. He gave up ties with the film industry in 1952, and moved to Pune, to concentrate on writing. He wrote several ghost stories, historical romances and children's stories in Bengali over the next 18 years.

Characters

Byomkesh Bakshi

Byomkesh Bakshi is a Satyanweshi, i.e., a truth-seeker.

Main article: Byomkesh Bakshi

Baroda

Baroda is a ghost-hunter. Like the Mejokorta of Premendra Mitra, he has direct interactions with ghosts. In Byomkesh O Baroda, the two characters meet.

Bibliography

Historical

Social

Short stories

Collected works

(See also Byomkesh Bakshi for individual stories featuring this detective)

Filmography

As screenplay writer:

Films based on Sharadindu's writings

Bengali

Hindi

Awards

Bandyopadhyay was awarded the Rabindra Puraskar in 1967 for the novel Tungabhadrar Tirey. The Calcutta University honoured him with the Sarat Smriti Purashkar in 1967.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Patel, Baburao (January 1939). "Review-Bhabhi". Filmindia 5 (1): 47. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Roychoudhury, Amborish. "Birth of an Industry". thebigindianpicture.com. The Big Indian Picture. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "36th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals.
  4. ↑ "Bollywood Movies". Hindustan Times.

External links