Roshmila Bhattacharya is an Indian journalist, author and editor, who has worked for

The Times Group Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL), d/b/a the Times Group, is an Indian media conglomerate based in Mumbai. Notable media properties owned and operated by the group include India's largest selling daily English-language newspaper ''The ...

's publication ''

Mumbai Mirror The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...

'' since 2013. Starting her career in the 1980s, she also worked for newspapers ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'', ''

The Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also pro ...

'', ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' and ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' and several magazines, including ''

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...

'', '' Screen'' and ''

The Illustrated Weekly of India ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' was an English-language weekly newsmagazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 (as ''Times of India'' Weekly Edition; later renamed as ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' in 1923) and ceased ...

''. She has written two books: ''Bad Man'' and ''Matinee Men: A Journey Through Bollywood''.

Biography

Growing up in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

and

Shillong Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...

, Bhattacharya's father was an employee at the

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Public sector undertakings in India, public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest bank in India with a 23% market shar ...

. She was initially wanted to be an air-hostess or an astronaut. After finishing her

communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

, her mother suggested her to be a film director or a radio producer but her father wanted her to work in advertising. Nonetheless, she decided to start a career in journalism. Bhattacharya then joined ''

'', after had a six-week internship following her meeting with the magazine's then-editor

Pritish Nandy Pritish Nandy (15 January 1951 – 8 January 2025) was an Indian poet, painter, journalist, politician, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, television and streaming content. He was a parliamentarian in the Ra ...

. Her part is writing for the "Idiot Box" column. She later worked ''

'' newspaper for three months and, after her internship ended, she joined ''

''. Bhattacharya made her authorial debut with the unauthorized biographical book ''Bad Man'', chronicling the life and career of the actor and producer

Gulshan Grover Gulshan Grover (born 21 September 1955) is an Indian actor and film producer who has appeared in over 100 films. He is popularly known as the "Bad Man" of Hindi cinema because of his ability to create an impact with his negative roles in films. ...

. Published on 20 July 2019 by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, the book received mixed feedback from critics; Prathyush Parasuraman of ''

Film Companion Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-defunct digital platform Film Compani ...

'' said, "The book is overpopulated with names of people and films, most of which have no relevance to the narrative. In that sense, it is like living in Mumbai—overpopulated, with more stories than narratives, more characters than characterizations." Her second book, titled ''Matinee Men: A Journey Through Bollywood'', was released on 10 December next year. Writing for ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

'', Kabir Singh Bhandari described it as "an informative and exciting read" and ''

The Free Press Journal ''The Free Press Journal'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper that was established in 1928 by Swaminathan Sadanand, who also acted as its first editor. First produced to complement a news agency, the Free Press of India, it was a s ...

'' Alpana Chowdhury noted that "in an easy-flowing style, she sketches the career graphs of her baker's dozen, with fascinating glimpses into lives she has been privy to".

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Roshmilla Indian editors Indian women editors Indian film critics Indian women film critics Indian women journalists Living people The Times of India journalists Hindustan Times journalists Year of birth missing (living people)