registers of a single language
Hindustani, with Hindi drawing much of its vocabulary from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and Urdu being more influenced by
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
). By this time, he was already reputed as a fiction writer in Urdu.
Sumit Sarkar
Sumit Sarkar (born 1939) is an Indian historian of modern India. He is the author of ''Swadeshi Movement''.
Early life, education and career
He was born to Susobhan Sarkar. His maternal uncle was Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
He completed h ...
notes that the switch was prompted by the difficulty of finding publishers in Urdu.
His first Hindi story "Saut" was published in the magazine ''
Saraswati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...
'' in December 1915, and his first short story collection ''Sapta Saroj'' was published in June 1917.
Gorakhpur
![Shilalekh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Shilalekh.jpg)
In August 1916, Premchand was transferred to Gorakhpur on a promotion. He became the Assistant Master at the Normal High School,
Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...
.
At Gorakhpur, he developed a friendship with the bookseller Buddhi Lal, who allowed him to borrow novels for reading, in exchange for selling exam cram books at the school.
Premchand was an enthusiastic reader of classics in other languages, and translated several of these works in Hindi.
By 1919, Premchand had published four novels, of about a hundred pages each. In 1919, Premchand's first major novel ''
Seva Sadan'' was published in Hindi. The novel was originally written in Urdu under the title ''Bazaar-e-Husn'', but was published in Hindi first by a
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
-based publisher, who offered Premchand for his work. The Urdu Publisher of
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
published the novel later in 1924, paying Premchand . The novel tells the story of an unhappy housewife, who first becomes a courtesan, and then manages an orphanage for the young daughters of the courtesans. It was well received by the critics, and helped Premchand gain wider recognition.
In 1919, Premchand obtained a BA degree from
Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
. By 1921, he had been promoted to Deputy Inspectors of Schools. On 8 February 1921, he attended a meeting in Gorakhpur, where
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
asked people to resign from government jobs as part of the
non-cooperation movement
The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. . Premchand, although physically unwell and with two kids and a pregnant wife to support, thought about it for 5 days and decided, with the consent of his wife, to resign from his government job.
Back to Benares
After quitting his job, Premchand left Gorakhpur for Benares on 18 March 1921, and decided to focus on his literary career. Till his death in 1936, he faced severe financial difficulties and chronic ill health.
In 1923, he established a printing press and publishing house in Benares, christened "Saraswati Press".
The year 1924 saw the publication of Premchand's ''
Rangbhoomi
''Rangbhoomi: The Arena of Life'' is a Hindi language
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of norther ...
'', which has a blind beggar called Surdas as its tragic hero. Schulz mentions that in ''Rangbhoomi'', Premchand comes across as a "superb social chronicler", and although the novel contains some "structural flaws" and "too many authorial explanations", it shows a "marked progress" in Premchand's writing style. According to Schulz, it was in ''Nirmala'' (1925) and ''Pratigya'' (1927) that Premchand found his way to "a balanced, realistic level" that surpasses his earlier works and manages to "hold his readers in tutelage". ''Nirmala'', a novel dealing with the
dowry system in India
The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the groom, his parents and his relatives as a condition of the marriage. Dowry is referred to dahez in Hindi and as ''jahez ...
, was first serialised in the magazine ''Chand'' between November 1925 and November 1926, before being published as a novel. ''Pratigya'' ("The Vow") dealt with the subject of widow remarriage.
In 1928, Premchand's novel ''
Gaban'' ("Embezzlement"), focusing on the middle class' greed, was published. In March 1930, Premchand launched a literary-political weekly magazine titled ''Hans'', aimed at inspiring the Indians to mobilise against the British rule. The magazine, noted for its politically provocative views, failed to make a profit. Premchand then took over and edited another magazine called ''Jagaran'', which too ran at a loss.
In 1931, Premchand moved to Kanpur as a teacher in the Marwari College, but had to leave because of difference with the college administration.
He then returned to Benares, and became the editor of the ''Maryada'' magazine. In 1932, he published another novel titled ''
Karmabhoomi
''Karmabhoomi'' (''The Land Where One Works'') is a Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand.
The novel is set in the Uttar Pradesh of the 1930s. By the beginning of the 20th century, Islam and Hinduism had coexisted in India for over a thousand years. ...
''. He briefly served as the headmaster of the Kashi Vidyapeeth, a local school. After the school's closure, he became the editor of the ''Madhuri'' magazine in
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
.
Bombay
Premchand arrived in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
on 31 May 1934 to try his luck in the
Hindi film industry. He had accepted a script writing job for the production house Ajanta Cinetone, hoping that the yearly salary of would help him overcome his financial troubles. He stayed in
Dadar
Dadar ( ̪aːd̪əɾ is a densely populated residential and shopping neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also a prominent railway and bus service hub with local and national connectivity.
Dadar holds the distinction of being Mumbai’s first planne ...
, and wrote the script for the film ''Mazdoor'' ("The Labourer"). The film, directed by Mohan Bhawnani, depicted the poor conditions on the labour class. Premchand himself did a
cameo as the leader of labourers in the film. Some influential businessmen managed to get a stay on its release in Bombay. The film was released in Lahore and Delhi, but was banned again after it inspired the mill workers to stand up against the owners.
Ironically, the film inspired the workers of his own loss-making press in Benares to launch a strike, after they were not paid their salaries.
By 1934–35, Premchand's Saraswati Press was under a heavy debt of , and Premchand was forced to discontinue the publication of ''Jagaran''. Meanwhile, Premchand was beginning to dislike the non-literary commercial environment of the Bombay film industry, and wanted to return to Benares. However, he had signed a one-year contract with the production house. He ultimately left Bombay on 4 April 1935, before the completion of one year.
Himanshu Roy, the founder of
Bombay Talkies
Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay.
The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. After Ra ...
, tried to convince Premchand to stay back, but did not succeed.
Last days
After leaving Bombay, Premchand wanted to settle in
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
, where his sons Sripat Rai and Amrit Kumar Rai were studying. He also planned to publish ''Hans'' from there. However, owing to his financial situation and ill-health, he had to hand over ''Hans'' to the Indian Literary Counsel and move to Benares.
Premchand was elected as the first President of the
Progressive Writers' Association
The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' (( ur, ) or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगति ...
in Lucknow, in 1936.
He died on 8 October 1936, after several days of sickness and while still in office.
''
Godaan
''Godaan'' ( hi, गोदान, , lit=Cow donation) is a famous Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand. It was first published in 1936 and is considered one of the greatest Hindi novels of modern Indian literature. Themed around the socio-economic ...
'' (''The Gift of a Cow'', 1936), Premchand's last completed work, is generally accepted as his best novel, and is considered one of the finest Hindi novels. The protagonist, Hori, a poor peasant, desperately longs for a cow, a symbol of wealth and prestige in rural India. According to Siegfried Schulz, "''Godān'' is a well-structured and well-balanced novel which amply fulfils the literary requirements postulated by Western literary standards." Unlike other contemporary renowned authors such as
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
, Premchand was not appreciated much outside India. Schulz believes that the reason for this was absence of good translations of his work. Also, unlike Tagore and
Iqbal Iqbal, Eqbal, Ikbal, or Eghbal may refer to:
Geography Iran
* ''Eqbal, Iran'', a village in West Azerbaijan Province
*''Eqbaliyeh'', rural district in Iran
* ''Eqbal-e Gharbi Rural District'', western provincial district in Qazvin, Iran
* ''Eqbal- ...
, Premchand never travelled outside India, studied abroad or mingled with the renowned foreign literary figures.
In 1936, Premchand also published "Kafan" ("
Shroud
Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to ''burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shr ...
"), in which a poor man collects money for the funeral rites of his dead wife, but spends it on food and drink. Premchand's last published story was "Cricket Match", which appeared in ''Zamana'' in 1938, after his death.
Style and influences
![Munshi Premchand half bust statue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Munshi_Premchand_half_bust_statue.jpg)
Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
.
His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class.
His works depict a rationalistic outlook, which views religious values as something that allows the powerful hypocrites to exploit the weak.
He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote about topics related to
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
, child widowhood,
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
,
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
,
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
,
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
and on the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
.
Premchand started taking an interest in political affairs while at Kanpur during the late 1900s, and this is reflected in his early works, which have patriotic overtones. His political thoughts were initially influenced by the moderate Indian National Congress leader
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale ( ɡoːpaːl ˈkrɪʂɳə ˈɡoːkʰleː9 May 1866 – 19 February 1915) was an Indian 'moderate' political leader and a social reformer during the Indian independence movement. Gokhale was a senior leader of the India ...
, but later, he moved towards the more extremist
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
.
He considered the
Minto–Morley Reforms and the
Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms
The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more briefly known as the Mont–Ford Reforms, were introduced by the colonial government to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in British India. The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, th ...
as inadequate, and supported greater political freedom.
Several of his early works, such as ''A Little Trick'' and ''A Moral Victory'', satirised the Indians who cooperated with the British Government. He did not specifically mention the British in some of his stories, because of strong government censorship, but disguised his opposition in settings from the medieval era and the foreign history.
He was also influenced by the teachings of
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
.
In the 1920s, he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's non-co-operation movement and the accompanying struggle for social reform. During this period, his works dealt with the social issues such as poverty,
zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
i exploitation (''Premashram'', 1922), dowry system (''Nirmala'', 1925), educational reform and political oppression (''Karmabhoomi'', 1931).
Premchand was focused on the economic liberalisation of the peasantry and the working class, and was opposed to the rapid industrialisation, which he felt would hurt the interests of the peasants and lead to oppression of the workers. This can be seen in works like ''Rangbhoomi'' (1924).
Premchand's influence on Indian literature cannot be overstated. As the late scholar
David Rubin wrote in ''The World of Premchand'' (1969), "To Premchand belongs the distinction of creating the genre of the serious short story—and the serious novel as well—in both Hindi and Urdu. Virtually single-handed he lifted fiction in these languages from a quagmire of aimless romantic chronicles to a high level of realistic narrative comparable to European fiction of the time; and in both languages, he has, in addition, remained an unsurpassed master."
In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in the novel ''Godaan'' (1936) and the short-story collection ''Kafan'' (1936).
Premchand believed that
social realism
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
was the way for
Hindi literature
Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃ ...
, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion of the contemporary
Bengali literature
Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
.
Legacy
Premchand was commemorated with the issue of a special 30-paise postage stamp by
India Post
India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...
on 31 July 1980.
Premchand's ancestral house in
Lamhi
Lamhi or Lamahi is a village, and gram panchayat, just north of the holy city of Varanasi in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The renowned Hindi and Urdu writer Munshi Premchand was born here on 31 July 1880.
There are two villages in the Lama ...
is being restored by the state government. An institute has also been set up in Lamhi to study his work. The
Munshi Premchand Mahavidyalaya
Munshi Premchand Mahavidyalaya, established in 2008, is general degree college in Sevok Road, Siliguri. It is in Darjeeling district. It offers undergraduate courses in arts. It is affiliated to University of North Bengal
University of ...
in
Siliguri
Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...
has been named after him.
On 31 July 2016,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
showed a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
in honouring the 136th birthday of Premchand.
List of works
Premchand wrote over three hundred short stories and fourteen novels, many essays and letters, plays and translations. Many of Premchand's works were translated into English and Russian after his death.
Novels
Short stories
Several of Premchand's stories have been published in a number of collections, including the 8-volume ''
Mansarovar
Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The l ...
'' (1900–1936). Some of his stories include:
Other stories include:
Translations
Premchand translated several non-Hindi works into Hindi. These included the writings of
Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar,
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
(''The Story of Richard Doubledick''),
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
(''Canterville''),
John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include ''The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize i ...
(''Strife''),
Saadi Shirazi
Saadi Shīrāzī ( fa, ابومحمّد مصلحالدین بن عبدالله شیرازی), better known by his pen name Saadi (; fa, سعدی, , ), also known as Sadi of Shiraz (, ''Saʿdī Shīrāzī''; born 1210; died 1291 or 1292), was ...
,
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...
,
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
(''
The Sightless'') and
Hendrik Willem van Loon
Hendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882 – March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian, journalist, and children's book author.
Life
He was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the son of Hendrik Willem van Loon and Elisabeth Johanna Hanken. ...
(''
The Story of Mankind
''The Story of Mankind'' is a book written and illustrated by Dutch-American journalist, professor, and author Hendrik Willem van Loon. It was published in 1921. In 1922, it was awarded the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children ...
'').
Some of the translated titles include:
Other
Film script
* Mill (Mazdoor), (1934)
This is the only film written by the acclaimed writer Munshi Premchand in which he also played a cameo. The film courted controversy owing to its story of a prodigal son of a benevolent mill worker who inherits the mill and proceeds to treat its workers with disdain.
Plays
* ''Karbala''
* ''Tajurba''
* ''Prem ki Vedi''
* ''Roohani Shadi''
* ''Sangram''
Essays
* ''Kuchh Vichar'' (two parts)
* ''Qalam Tyag aur Talwar''
Biographies
* ''Durgadas''
* ''Mahatma Sheikhsadi'' (biography of
Saadi)
Children's books
* ''Bal Kahaniyan Sumpurn''
* ''Manmodak''
* ''Ram Charcha''
Adaptations of Premchand's works
''
Sevasadanam
''Sevasadanam'' () is a 1938 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Subrahmanyam. It is one of the early Tamil films to be set in a contemporary social setting and to advocate reformist social policies. This was the first film for M. S ...
'' (1938) was made into a film with
M. S. Subbulakshmi
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is ...
in the lead role. The novel is set in
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
, the holy city of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s. ''Sevasadan'' ("House of Service") is an institute built for the daughters of courtesans. The lead of the novel is a beautiful, intelligent and talented girl called Suman. She belongs to a high
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
. She is married to a much older, tyrannical man. She realises that a loveless marriage is just like prostitution except that there is only one client. Bholi, a courtesan, lives opposite Suman. Suman realises that Bholi is "outside
purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
", while she is "inside it". Suman leaves her husband and becomes a successful entertainer of gentlemen. But after a brief period of success, she ends up as a victim of a political drama played out by self-righteous Hindu social reformers and moralists.
A film version of Premchand's novel, ''
Gaban'', was released in 1966.
Sunil Dutt
Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Dutt; 6 June 1929 — 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director and politician. Dutt was one of the major stars of Hindi cinema in the late 1950s and 1960s and continued to star in many successful film ...
,
Sadhana Shivdasani
Sadhana Shivdasani (2 September 1941 – 25 December 2015), known mononymously as Sadhana, was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films, primarily active between 1958-1981. Regarded as one of the finest and iconic actresses of the golden age ...
,
Kanhaiyalal and
Leela Mishra
Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...
acted in the film and the music was scored by musician duo
Shankar–Jaikishan
Shankar–Jaikishan (also known as S-J), were an Indian composer duo of the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949 to 1971. They are widely considered to be one of the greatest ever music composers of the Hindi film industry. After Jaiki ...
. ''Heera Moti'', a 1959 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Krishan Chopra, was based on Premchand's "Do Bailon ki Katha".
In 1977,
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
made
a film based on Premchand's short story "
Shatranj ke Khiladi
"Shatranj Ke Khilari" (''The Chess Player''s) is a 1924 Hindi short-story written by Munshi Premchand. Premchand also made the Urdu version titled "Shatranj ki bazi".
Synopsis
The story depicts decadent royalty of Central North India. It is set ...
" ("The Chess Players"), which won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi
The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several a ...
. The film revolves around the decadence of
nawab
Nawab (Balochi language, Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب;
bn, নবাব/নওয়াব;
hi, नवाब;
Punjabi language, Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ;
Persian language, Persian,
Punjabi language, Punjabi ,
Sindhi language, Sindhi,
Urd ...
i
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
, where the obsession with a game consumes the players, making them oblivious of their responsibilities in the midst of a crisis.
''
Oka Oori Katha
''Oka Oori Katha'' (English title: The Marginal Ones; Telugu: ఒక ఊరి కథ) is a 1977 Indian Telugu-Language drama film directed by Mrinal Sen. The Pan-Indian film is based on the story ''Kafan'' by Munshi Premchand. The film was one o ...
'' (''A Story of a Village'') is a 1977
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
film directed by
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
. It is based on the story "Kafan" by Munshi Premchand. It is one of the few art films made in the Telugu language.
Indian film director
Satyen Bose
Satyen Bose (22 January 1916 – 9 June 1993) was a film director from India. He has directed both Bengali language, Bengali and Hindi language films. Among his most notable films are ''Raat Aur Din, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Dosti'', and ''Jagriti ...
adapted Premchand's "Panch Parmeshwar" into the 1979 film ''
Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin
''Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin'' (alternative: ''Truth Needs No Support'') is a 1979 Bollywood drama film directed by Satyen Bose. This film was inspired by the story ''Panch Parmeshwar'', written by the famous writer Premchand. The film was produced b ...
''. ''
Bazaar E Husn
''Bazaar E Husn'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language film, based on Munshi Premchand’s renowned Urdu novel Bazaar-e-Husn, released on 18 July 2014. This film stars Reshmi Ghosh, Jeet Goshwami, Om Puri and Yashpal Sharma, and was written by ...
'', a 2014 Indian Hindi-language film was based on Premchand's novel of
the same name. A 2019 Indian film, ''Ek Betuke Aadmi Ki Afrah Raatein'', was based on
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's "
White Nights
White night, White Night, or White Nights may refer to:
* White night (astronomy), a night in which it never gets completely dark, at high latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles
* White Night festivals, all-night arts festivals held in ...
" and "
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" (russian: Сон смешного человека, ''Son smeshnovo cheloveka'') is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the wo ...
", and Premchand's "Bhoot".
At least three television series based on Premchand's works have been aired by the Indian national public broadcaster
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
on
DD National
DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television channel ...
which include ''Munshi Premchand's Guldasta'', ''Munshi Premchand ki Kahani'', and ''Tehreer Munshi Premchand Ki''. The television films ''
Sadgati'' (based on a Premchand short story) and ''Seva Sadan'' (based on ''
Bazaar-e-Husn
, hi, सेवासदन
, image =
, author = Munshi Premchand
, illustrator =
, cover_artist =
, country = British India
, language = Hindustani
, genre = Novel
, publisher =
, release_d ...
'') were also aired by Doordarshan.
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
Kavishala Sootradhar , Munshi Premchand*
{{Authority control
1880 births
1936 deaths
19th-century Indian novelists
19th-century Indian short story writers
19th-century pseudonymous writers
20th-century Indian novelists
20th-century Indian screenwriters
20th-century Indian short story writers
20th-century pseudonymous writers
20th-century Urdu-language writers
Hindi-language writers
Hindi novelists
Indian magazine founders
Indian magazine editors
Indian male novelists
Indian male screenwriters
Novelists from Uttar Pradesh
People of British India
University of Allahabad alumni
Urdu-language novelists
Urdu-language short story writers
Urdu-language writers from British India
Writers from Varanasi