Shaktipada Rajguru(1922-) is an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n Bengali

Bengali people

The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

 writer. Several of his novels have been adapated for the screen including the Ritwik Ghatak-directed Meghe Dhaka Tara

Meghe Dhaka Tara

Meghe Dhaka Tara is a 1960 film by written and director Ritwik Ghatak, based on a novel Shaktipada Rajguru. It stars Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Gita Dey, Bijan Bhattacharya, Niranjan Roy, and Gyanesh Mukherjee...

and the Shakti Samanta-directed

Shakti Samanta

Shakti Samanta was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films like Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Kati Patang and Amar Prem.He received Filmfare Awards for Best Film for Aradhana, Anuraag and Amanush,...

 Amanush

Amanush

Amanush is a 1975 Indian film made in both Hindi and Bengali produced and directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Sharmila Tagore, Uttam Kumar, Utpal Dutta and Asit Sen....

. He has been translated in to 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...

, Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

, and Malayalam.

Early life

Shaktipada Rajguru was born in 01/02/1922 in Gopebandi, Bankura District

Bankura District

Bankura district is one of the seven districts of Burdwan Division in the Indian state of West Bengal. The district has been described as the “connecting link between the plains of Bengal on the east and Chota Nagpur plateau on the west.” The areas to the east and north-east are low lying alluvial...

, in what is now West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. His early schooling was at pachthopi T.N. Institutional School in Murshidabad

Murshidabad

Murshidabad is a city in Murshidabad district of West Bengal state in India. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganges River. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Nawabs of Bengal used to rule Bengal from this...

. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Calcutta

University of Calcutta

The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...

. He began writing in 1945 with his first novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, Dinguli Mor which revolved around the sensitive topic of the plight of refugees. Since then, he has written over 100 novels.

Writing style

Shaktipada Rajguru is fond of travelling and many of his novels are set in locations such as Chota Nagpur

Chota Nagpur Plateau

The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the basin of the Mahanadi River lies to the south...

, Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, Dandakaranya

Dandakaranya

Dandakaranya is a spiritually significant region in India. It is roughly equivalent to the Bastar District in the central east part of India...

, places distant from Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, where his novels are published. He is fond of describing nature in great detail and in portraying strong central characters in these locations. He cites Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay

Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay was one of the most famous Bengali novelist and writer of modern Bengali literature...

 and Tarashankar Bandopadhyay

Tarashankar Bandopadhyay

Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay was one of the leading Bengali novelists. He wrote 65 novels, 53 story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies and 2 travel stories...

 as major influences.

Select bibliography

• Meghe Dhaka Tara
• Moni Begum
• Antare antare
• Jeebon Kahini
• Anusandhan
• Amanush
• Baghini

Awards

• The Bibhutibhushan Award for literary excellence
• All-India Lion's Award, Best screenplay for Amanush
  Amanush
  Amanush is a 1975 Indian film made in both Hindi and Bengali produced and directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Sharmila Tagore, Uttam Kumar, Utpal Dutta and Asit Sen....