Rinki Roy Bhattacharya (born 1942) is an Indian writer, columnist and documentary filmmaker. Daughter of film director

Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as '' Do Bigha Zamin'', '' Parineeta'', '' Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas'', ''Madhumati'', '' Sujata'', '' ...

, she was married to

Basu Bhattacharya Basu Bhattacharya (1934–19 June 1997) was an Indian film director of Hindi films. He is perhaps best known for his 1966 film ''Teesri Kasam'', starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman (based on the short story "Maare Gaye Gulfam" by Phanish ...

and collaborated on his films. She is the vice-chairperson of the

Children's Film Society of India Children's Film Society India (CFSI) was a nodal organization of Government of India that produced children's films and various TV programs in various Indian languages. Established in 1955, CFSI functioned under the Ministry of Information and ...

(CFSI) and the founder chairperson of

Memorial & Film Society. As a freelance journalist, she has been writing extensively on films, theatre, art and feminist issues, for publications of

The Times Group Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, (abbreviated as B.C.C.L. and d/b/a The Times Group), is an Indian media conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company remains a family-owned business with Sahu Jain family owning a majori ...

, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' and ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' .

Biography

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

native, Rinki was born in 1942. She was the eldest daughter of the renowned Indian filmmaker,

. Her childhood was spent around prominent writers, poets and artists, who frequented their household, which was also noted for its gourmet

Bengali cuisine Bengali cuisine ( bn, বাঙ্গালী রন্ধনপ্রণালী) is the culinary style of Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent encompassing Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura ...

. She began her career as a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

in 1966 and had articles published in ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...

'', ''

'' and many other periodicals. She made her debut into making documentary films with ''Char Divari'', a documentary which deals with

wife-beating Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...

, which was followed soon after by a sequel on related issues involving violence against women in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She became deeply involved in the

Women's Movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such is ...

in India and has written several books on the subject, including ''Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence In India'', ''Bimal Roy - A Man of Silence'', ''Indelible Imprints'', an essay in ''Uncertain Liaisons'' as well as several cookbooks. She also published a book on the making of the film, ''

Madhumati ''Madhumati'' is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language paranormal romance film directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Dilip Kumar in lead roles, with Pran and John ...

'' (1958), ''Bimal Roy's Madhumati: Untold Stories from Behind the Scenes'' (2014).

Personal life

In 1961, Rinki married film director

(1934–1997). The couple had three children together: a son

Aditya Bhattacharya Aditya Bhattacharya (born 1965) is an Indian film director and screenwriter, most known for his feature film, ''Raakh'' (1989), starring Aamir Khan and Pankaj Kapur, which garnered three National Film Awards. He is the son of film director Basu ...

(b. 1965), who is a film director, and two daughters, Chimmu Bhattacharya and Anwesha Arya, the latter a writer. In a 1984 interview with journalist Madhu Kishwar for the publication ''Manushi,'' Rinki revealed that she had left her husband in 1982 and alleged that she had suffered domestic abuse. The couple were formally divorced in 1990. She lives in Bandra, Mumbai. Rinki has also had a history of discord with her mother and siblings. Following the death of her father in 1966, Rinki disputed with her mother and siblings, filing cases in court against them on the basis of legal technicalities. Her family reached a settlement with her in preference to spending years in litigation, and Riinki thus received an enhanced share of her father's property.

Bibliography

* ''Cuisine Creations from Bengal'', 1993, India Book House Pvt. Ltd., . * ''Bimal Roy: A Man of Silence'', 1994, South Asia Books, . * ''Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence in India''. 2004, Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd. . * ''Bengal Spices'', 2004, Rupa & Co., . * ''Janani - Mothers, Daughters, Motherhood'', 2006, Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd, . * ''Bimal Roy's Madhumati: Untold Stories from Behind the Scenes'', 2014. Rupa Publications. .

References

External links

*
Article at ''The Hindu''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Rinki 1942 births Living people Indian columnists Indian documentary filmmakers Indian women columnists Indian food writers Indian women activists Bengali Hindus Bengali writers Writers from Kolkata Women food writers Activists from West Bengal Women writers from West Bengal 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian writers 20th-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian biographers Indian women documentary filmmakers Women biographers