Manohar Shyam Joshi
Encyclopedia
Manohar Shyam Joshi (Hindi: मनोहर जोशी) was a Hindi writer, journalist and scriptwriter, most well known as the writer of Indian television's first soap opera,Hum Log (1982) and its early hits Buniyaad
Buniyaad
Buniyaad is an Indian television drama-series that was directed by Ramesh Sippy and Jyoti Sarup. The series was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and dealt with the Partition of India in 1947 and its aftermath....

 (1987), Kakaji Kahin, a political satire and Kyap, novel which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...

.

Biography

Manohar Shyam Joshi was born on August 9, 1933 at Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...

 in Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, the son of a noted educationist and musicologist belonging to a Kumaoni
Kumauni people
Kumauni or Kumaoni are people from Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, India.They include all those who speak the Kumaoni language or any of its numerous dialects, living in the Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Nainital,Bijnor,Udham Singh Nagar,Moradabad, districts of Uttarakhand,...

 Brahmin family from Almora
Almora
Almora is a municipal board, a cantonment town in the Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Almora was founded in 1568.It is a town bustling with activity and a rich cultural heritage and history. It is considered the cultural heart of the Kumaon region of...

, now in the state of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...

.

He died on March 30, 2006, at the age of 73, in New Delhi, India. He is survived by his wife and three sons. Upon his death, Prime minister, Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...

 called him, "..one of the most influential writers and commentators in Hindi in recent times".
.

Television

He is often called "the Father of Indian Soap Operas" being the writer of India's first Television soap opera, Hum Log. Made in 1982, when television was still a luxury item for majority of Indians, the serial dealt with the everyday struggles of the middle-class India,, making it an instant hit, especial because every Indian could identify with it. His another popular creation was Buniyaad
Buniyaad
Buniyaad is an Indian television drama-series that was directed by Ramesh Sippy and Jyoti Sarup. The series was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and dealt with the Partition of India in 1947 and its aftermath....

 (1987–1988), directed by Ramesh Sippy, a serial based around the life a family displaced by the Partition of India in 1947; both went on to deeply influence an entire generation of Indians as well as the Indian television industry.

In the following years he wrote many more long running serials like, 'Mungeri Lal Ke Hasin Sapney', 'Kakaji Kahin', 'Hamrahi', 'Zameen Aasman' and 'Gatha'.

Novels

Manohar Shyam Joshi is also known for his novels which have dealt with varied topics ranging from love(Kasap), described as one of the greatest love stories in Hindi, to devastating political satire like Netaji Kahin.

He was a prominent post-modernist authors in modern Hindi literature, as amiably demonstrated by his cult novel Kuru kuru Swaahaa and his novella Hariya Hercules ki Hairaani. He was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...

 in 2005 for Hindi, for his novel Kyap, an allegory of modern India, known for its sensitive portrayal of the Kumaoni
Kumauni people
Kumauni or Kumaoni are people from Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, India.They include all those who speak the Kumaoni language or any of its numerous dialects, living in the Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Nainital,Bijnor,Udham Singh Nagar,Moradabad, districts of Uttarakhand,...

 traditions of his home-state Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...

.

Films

He had a penchant for romance, subtle comedy and satire alike, this allowed him to write for cinema based on a variety of subjects, like 'Hey Ram', 'Appu Raja', 'Papa Kahte Hain' and 'Brashtachar'. He was also a dubbing expert of much ability, and dubbed for films like Appu Raja and Hey Ram
Hey Ram
Hey Ram is a controversial Indian film released both in Tamil and Hindi in 2000 and written, directed, produced by and starring Kamal Haasan...

.

Journalism

He had a long stint as a journalist, both in the broadcast and the print media. He worked first with All India Radio
All India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...

, New Delhi, in the Hindi News section and then with the Films Division of India in Mumbai, where he wrote the scripts for many documentaries. This is when he started writing his famous landmark interviews with ordinary folks, which were serialised in the Sarika magazine. It was not long before he was handpicked by Sachidananda Vatsayan Agyeya for a new Hindi news magazine 'Dinmaan', being brought out by the Times of India group. Agyeya was to be the editor and Joshi the Assistant Editor.

Later, he concurrently edited the leading Hindi magazine Saptahik Hindustan
Hindustan
Hindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...

, along with the English Weekend Review and in late 70s, the Morning Echo weekly all brought out by the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....

.

His journalistic writings have covered a wide range of topics from popular science and scintillating travelogues to astute political analyses. Until his death, he wrote an opinion column for Outlook Saptahik, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 magazine from Outlook India .

Literary works


Television serials

  • Hum Log (1982)
  • Buniyaad
    Buniyaad
    Buniyaad is an Indian television drama-series that was directed by Ramesh Sippy and Jyoti Sarup. The series was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and dealt with the Partition of India in 1947 and its aftermath....

     (1987)
  • Kakaji Kahin
  • Mungeri Lal ke Haseen Sapne
  • Hamrahi
  • Zameen Aasman (1995)
  • Gatha (1997).

Filmography

  • Bhrashtachar (1989) - Screenplay
  • Papa Kahte Hain
  • Appu Raja
  • Hey Ram
    Hey Ram
    Hey Ram is a controversial Indian film released both in Tamil and Hindi in 2000 and written, directed, produced by and starring Kamal Haasan...

     (2000) - Dialogue

Works in Translation

  • T'Ta Professor (2008), translated by Ira Pande ISBN 978-0-670-08209-4, winner of Vodafone Crossword Book Award
    Vodafone Crossword Book Award
    Vodafone Crossword Book Award is an Indian book award sponsored by Vodafone and Crossword Bookstores. It is India's biggest private sector award. The Award was instituted in 1998 with the intention of competing with The Booker Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize or The Pulitzer Prize.The award...

     for best translated work.

Awards

  • MP Sahitya Parishad Samman
  • Sharad Joshi Samman
  • Shikhar Samman
  • Delhi Hindi Academy Award
  • Onida and Uptron Award for TV writing
  • 2005 Sahitya Akademi Award
    Sahitya Akademi Award
    Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...


External links

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