Dinanath Gopal Tendulkar (1909–1972) was an Indian writer and documentary film maker. He is most well known as the author of an eight-volume biography of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

, titled ''Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi''. He was also a close associate of Vithalbhai Jhaveri and collaborated for the documentary film, '' Mahatma: Life of Gandhi, 1869–1948''. He died on Monday, June 12, 1972.

Early life

He was born in

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in southwestern Maharashtra, India. The district is part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for the Hapus or ...

, Maharashtra ( Bombay Presidency as it was called then) and was educated first at

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and then at Universities

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Writer

Tendulkar gained international notability for writing the eight-volume biography of

, titled ''Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi''. His most noted work is his ''Gandhi biography,'' which was first published in 1951 with a foreword by the then Prime Minister,

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. He was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

(third highest civilian honour in the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

) decoration by the then

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independen ...

. He refused the award and asked for (and got) a watch instead. Tendulkar's 1967 biography of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan – ''Faith is a Battle'' is among the few very biographies written about Gaffar Khan. He was appointed as a member of the National Book Trust of India, when it was first established in 1957. His other works include ''30 months in Russia'' (1943), ''Gandhi in Champaran'' (1957) and ''Soviet Sanskriti''. He has also edited two books – ''Jawaharlal Nehru in pictures'' (1967) and ''Gandhiji:His life and works'' (1944). Tendulkar was also a documentary film maker who had trained under

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

in Moscow. Tendulkar and his fellow European trained film makers – P. V. Pathy and K. S. Hirlekar – are considered to be the pioneers of documentary film making in India.

Bibliography

*''Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi'' * ''30 months in Russia'' *''Faith is a Battle'' (a biography of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan) *(ed.) ''Jawaharlal Nehru in pictures'' *''Gandhi in Champaran'' *''Soviet Sanskriti'' *(ed.)''Gandhiji:His life and works''

References

External links

DG Tendulkar page at OpenlibraryMahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tendulkar, Dinanath Gopal 20th-century Indian biographers Indian documentary filmmakers 1909 births 1971 deaths Writers from Maharashtra People from Ratnagiri