Dinanath Gopal Tendulkar (1909–1972) was an Indian writer and documentary film maker. He is most well known as the author of an eight-volume biography of

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- ...

, titled ''Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi''. He was also a close associate of

Vithalbhai Jhaveri Vithalbhai Jhaveri (1916–1985) was an Indian independence activist, filmmaker, photographer, writer and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He documented Gandhi, since the Dandi March till his death in 1948, through numerous photographs which ...

and collaborated for the documentary film, '' Mahatma: Life of Gandhi, 1869–1948''. He died on Monday, June 12, 1972.

Early life

He was born in

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for ...

, Maharashtra (

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

as it was called then) and was educated first at

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 ...

and then at Universities

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

Writer

Tendulkar gained international notability for writing the eight-volume biography of

, titled ''Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi''. In fact his most noted work is his Gandhi biography which was first published in 1951 with a foreword by the then Prime Minister,

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

. He was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

(third highest civilian honour in the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

) decoration by the then

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian Nationa ...

. He refused the award and asked for (and got) a watch instead. Tendulkar's 1967 biography of

Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Abdul Ghaffār Khān (; 6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988), also known as Bacha Khan () or Badshah Khan (), and honourably addressed as Fakhr-e-Afghan (), was a Pakistani Pashtun, independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar ...

– ''Faith is a Battle'' is among the few very biographies written about Gaffar Khan. He was appointed as a member of the National Book Trust of India, when it was first established in 1957. His other works include ''30 months in Russia'' (1943), ''Gandhi in Champaran'' (1957) and ''Soviet Sanskriti''. He has also edited two books – ''Jawaharlal Nehru in pictures'' (1967) and ''Gandhiji:His life and works'' (1944). Tendulkar was also a documentary film maker who had trained under

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...

in Moscow. Tendulkar and his fellow European trained film makers – P. V. Pathy and K. S. Hirlekar – are considered to be the pioneers of documentary film making in India.

Bibliography

*''Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi'' * ''30 months in Russia'' *''Faith is a Battle'' (a biography of

) *(ed.) ''Jawaharlal Nehru in pictures'' *''Gandhi in Champaran'' *''Soviet Sanskriti'' *(ed.)''Gandhiji:His life and works''

References

External links

DG Tendulkar page at OpenlibraryMahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tendulkar, Dinanath Gopal 20th-century Indian biographers Indian documentary filmmakers 1909 births 1971 deaths Writers from Maharashtra People from Ratnagiri