Suchitra Bhattacharya (10 January 1950 – 12 May 2015) was an Indian novelist, known for works including ''Hemanter Pakhi'', ''Kachher Manush'', ''Aleek Shukh'', ''Icche'' and ''Kacher Dewal''. During her career as a writer, she composed over 20 novels and many short stories. Her novel ''Dahan'' was adapted into the 1997 film '' Dahan'', and her novels ''Iccher Gach'', ''Alik Sukh'' and ''Ramdhanu Rang'' were adapted into films by
Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Shiboprosad Mukherjee (, Bengali: ; born 20 May 1974) is an Indian film director, writer and actor. With Nandita Roy as his co-director, he made his directorial debut with the film '' Icche'', which garnered critical acclaim and commercial suc ...
, and her novel ''Onnyo Bwasanto'' was adapted into a television film by Aditi Roy.
Early life and education
Suchitra Bhattacharya was born in 1950 in
Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur, historically known as Champapuri, Champa Nagari, is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern bank of the Ganges river. It is the Bihar#Government and administration, third largest city of Bihar by population and ...
,
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
. She was interested in writing from her childhood.
Bhattacharya graduated from the
Jogamaya Devi College
Jogamaya Devi College is one of the oldest and leading women's colleges in Kolkata, India. It shares the same building with Asutosh College (day college) and Syamaprasad College (evening college) and is named after the wife of Sir Asutosh Muk ...
, an affiliated undergraduate women's college of the historic
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...
, in
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
.
Career
Having taken many odd jobs in her early youth, she finally joined the public service, leaving in 2004 to become a full-time writer. She started writing in the late-1970s, and novels in the mid-1980s, finding early success with her novel ''Kacher Dewal'' (Glass Wall).
Her writing focuses on contemporary social issues. Her life experiences are reflected in many of her stories and novels. Bhattacharya was enthusiastic about fellow contemporary women author Tilottama Majumdar, and was deeply influenced by Ashapurna Devi and
Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi (14 January 1926 – 28 July 2016) ''
.
Her novels and short stories have been translated into
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
,
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
,
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India
** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language.
* Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
,
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
**Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
, Gujarati, Punjabi and English. She has also written novels and short stories for children.
Her novel ''Dahan'' was made into the 1997 film '' Dahan'' by Bengali director
Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh (; 31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for h ...
. The short story "Ichcher Gaach" was also made into a full-length feature film ''Icche'', directed by
Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Shiboprosad Mukherjee (, Bengali: ; born 20 May 1974) is an Indian film director, writer and actor. With Nandita Roy as his co-director, he made his directorial debut with the film '' Icche'', which garnered critical acclaim and commercial suc ...
and Nandita Roy. "Hemonter Pakhi" was also made into a feature film by Urmi Chakraborty.
Suchitra Bhattacharya also contributed to the Bengali adult crime fiction genre with her detective character Mitin Masi, one of the few female detectives in Bengali literature. The first novel with Mitin Masi was ''Sarandai Saitan'', followed by: ''Sarporahosya sundarbone, Jhau jhien hotyarorosya, Dussapno bar bar, Sander saheber Puthi'' and others. Other Mitin Masi novels were written for adults.
Suchitra Bhattacharya died on 12 May 2015, aged 65, due to a cardiac arrest at her home in Dhakuria, Kolkata.
Awards and accolades
Suchitra received many awards, including the Bhuban Mohini Medal from Calcutta University in 2004, the Nanjanagudu Thirumalamba National Award (1996), the Katha Award (1997), the Tarashankar Award (2000), the Dwijendralal Award in 2001 from Kalyani, the Sharat Puroshkar (2002), as well as the Bharat Nirman Award, Sahitya Setu Award and Shailajananda Smriti Puroshkar in 2004 and Dinesh Chandra Smriti Puroskar in 2015. She received the Mati Nandy award in 2012.
Selected novels
* ''Kachher Manush'' (Close to Me)
* ''Dahan'' (The Burning)
* ''Ichcher Gaach''( The Wish Tree)
* ''Bhanga Kal'' (Falling Apart)
* ''Kacher Dewal'' (The Wall of Glass)
* ''Hemonter Pakhi'' (Bird of Autumn)
* ''Neel Ghurni'' (Blue tornado)
* ''Aleek Shukh'' (Heavenly bliss)
* ''Gabhir Ashukh'' (A Grave Illness)
* ''Uro Megh'' (Flying Cloud)
* ''Chhera Taar'' (Broken string)
* ''Alochhaya'' (Shadows of Light)
* ''Anyo Basanto'' (Another Spring)
* ''Parabas''
* ''Palabar Path Nei'' (No escape)
* ''Aami Raikishori''
* ''Rangin Pritibi'' (Colourful world)
* ''Jalchhobi'' (Watermark)
*''Mitin Masi'' book series
*''Dashti Upanyas'' (Ten novels)
*''German Ganesh''
*''Ekaa'' (Alone)
*''Aynamahal'' (Palace of Mirrors)
Alik Sukh
''Alik Sukh'' (English: ''Unreal Happiness'') is a 2013 Bengali Medical
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, ...
Salt Mango Tree
''Salt Mango Tree'' is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Rajesh Mohanan, starring Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli and Suhasini Maniratnam. The film is a remake of the 2014 Bengali film '' Ramdhanu'' and ...