Gita Mehta (née Patnaik; born 1943) is an Indian writer and documentary filmmaker.

Biography

Born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

into a well-known

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

family, she is the daughter of Biju Patnaik, an Indian independence activist and a Chief Minister in post-independence

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, then known as Orissa. Her younger brother,

Naveen Patnaik Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...

, has served as the Chief Minister of Odisha since 2000. She completed her education in India and at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, United Kingdom. She was adjudged for India's fourth highest civilian award the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 2019, which she declined for political reasons. She has produced and/or directed 14 television documentaries for UK, European and US networks. During the years 1970–1971 she was a television war correspondent for the US television network NBC. Her film compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, ''Dateline Bangladesh'', was shown in cinemas both in India and abroad. She is the widow of Sonny Mehta, former head of the

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

publishing house, whom she married in 1965. She has one son, Aditya Singh Mehta. Her books have been translated into 21 languages and been on the bestseller lists in Europe, the US and India. Her fiction and non-fiction focuses exclusively on India - its culture and history - and on the Western perception of it. Her works reflect the insight gained through her journalistic and political background. Mehta divides her time between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Works

* '' Karma Cola''.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 1979. * ''Raj'', 1989 * '' A River Sutra'' (short stories), 1993 * ''Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India'', London:

Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, 1997. * ''Eternal Ganesha: From Birth to Rebirth'',

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, 2006

References

* Sharma, Bhasha Shukla. "Mapping culture through 'A river Sutra': Tribal myths, dialogism, and meta-narratives in postcolonial fiction", ''Universal Journal of Education and General Studies'' 1 (2), 17–27, 2012

External links

Gita Mehta
at Penguin India * * Bio-bibliographical Information * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Gita 1943 births Living people Indian women television journalists Indian television journalists Writers from Delhi English-language writers from India Alumni of the University of Cambridge Indian documentary filmmakers Indian women documentary filmmakers Women artists from Delhi Screenwriters from Delhi Journalists from Delhi Women writers from Delhi 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian women writers