Sunil Gangopadhyaya

Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta. In 1953 he and a few of his friends started a Bengali poetry magazine, '' Krittibas''. Later he wrote for many different publications.

Ganguly created the Bengali fictional character ''Kakababu'' whose real name is Raja Roy Chowdhury and his passion is to solve mysteries. He wrote 36 novels in Kakababu series which became significant in Indian children's literature. He received ''Sahitya Akademi'' award in 1985 for his novel '' Those Days'' (''Sei Samay''). Gangopadhyay used the pen name ''Nil Lohit'', ''Sanatan Pathak'', and ''Nil Upadhyay''. He was one of the most popular, creative and celebrated Bengali Writers of the present era.

Early life

He was born in Faridpur into a Bengali Hindu family in what is now Bangladesh. He came to live in Kolkata from his ancestral town at an early age. Later, his ancestral town fell within East Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. He studied at the Surendranath College, Dum Dum Motijheel College, City College, Kolkata – all affiliated with the University of Calcutta. Thereafter, he obtained his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta in 1954.

He married Swati Banerjee on 26 February 1967. Their only son, Souvik, who stays in Boston, was born on 20 November 1967.

Literary career

Krittibas

Gangopadhyay was the founder editor of ''Krittibas'', a seminal poetry magazine started publishing from 1953, that became a platform for a new generation of poets experimenting with many new forms in poetic themes, rhythms, and words.

Other works

Later, he started writing for various publications of the Ananda Bazar group, a major publishing house in Kolkata and has been continuing it for many years. He became a friend of the beat poet Allen Ginsberg while he was travelling in India. Ginsberg mentioned Gangopadhyay most notedly in his poem September on Jessore Road. Gangopadhyay in return mentioned Ginsberg in some of his prose work. After serving five years as the Vice President, he was elected the President of the Sahitya Akademi on 20 February 2008

Sunil, along with Tarun Sanyal, Jyotirmoy Datta and Satrajit Dutta had volunteered to be defence witnesses in the famous trial of Hungry generation movement poet Malay Roy Choudhury.

Works

Author of well over 200 books, Sunil was a prolific writer who has excelled in different genres but declares poetry to be his "first love". His ''Nikhilesh'' and ''Neera'' series of poems (some of which have been translated as ''For You, Neera'' and ''Murmur in the Woods'') have been extremely popular.

As in poetry, Sunil was known for his unique style in prose. His second novel was ''Atmaprakash'' and it was also the first writing from a newcomer in literature published in the prestigious magazine- ''Desh'' (1965). It was critically acclaimed but some controversy arose for its aggressive and 'obscene' style. Sunil said that he was afraid of this novel and went away from Calcutta for a few days. Satyajit Ray thought to make a film on it but it wasn't possible for reasons. The central character of 'Atmaprakash' is a young man of core-calcutta'- Sunil, who leads a bohemian life-style. The novel had inspiration from ' On the road' by Jack Kerouac, the beat generation writer. His historical fiction ''Sei Somoy'' (translated into English by Aruna Chakravorty as '' Those Days'') received the Indian Sahitya Akademi award in 1985. ''Sei Somoy'' continues to be a best seller more than two decades after its first publication. The same is true for ''Prothom Alo'' (also translated recently by Aruna Chakravorty as ''First Light''), another best selling historical fiction and ''Poorba-Pashchim'', a raw depiction of the partition and its aftermath seen through the eyes of three generations of Bengalis in West Bengal, Bangladesh and elsewhere. He is also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar (1982), and the Ananda Puraskar (twice, in 1972 and 1989).

Sunil wrote in many other genres including travelogues, children's fiction, short stories, features, and essays. Among his pen-names are: Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.

Though he wrote all types of children's fiction, one character created by him that stands out above the rest, was Kakababu, the crippled adventurist, accompanied by his young adult nephew Santu, and his friend Jojo. Since 1974, Sunil Gangopadhyay wrote over 35 novels of this popular series, most of which appeared in Anandamela magazine.

Adaptations of his literary works

* Satyajit Ray made two films ''Pratidwandi'' and ''Aranyer Din Ratri'' based on the works of Ganguly.
* One of Sunil Gangopadhyay's cult poems, ''Smritir Shohor'' has been turned into a song for the film ''Iti Mrinalini'' (2011) directed by Aparna Sen.
* Six of his ''Kakababu'' series novels have been adapted into big screen—
** ''Sabuj Dwiper Raja'' (1979) directed by Tapan Sinha
** ''Kakababu Here Gelen?'' (1996) directed by Pinaki Chaudhuri
** ''Ek Tukro Chand'' (2001) directed by Pinaki Chaudhuri
** '' Mishor Rahasya'' (2013) directed by Srijit Mukherji
** ''Yeti Obhijaan'' (2017) directed by Srijit Mukherji
** ''Kakababur Protyaborton'' (2021) directed by Srijit Mukherji
* Shyamaprasad adapted his novel 'Hirek Deepti' as Malayalam feature 'Ore Kadal' in 2007, and his novel 'Megh Brishti Alo' short story into the 2012 Malayalam film ''Arike

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