Premendra Mitra (4 September 1904 – 3 May 1988) was an Indian poet, writer and film director in the Bengali language. He was also a practitioner of Bengali science fiction. His critique of humanity led him to believe that for it to survive, human beings had to "forget their differences and be united".

Birth and family

Premendra Mitra was born on 4 September 1904 at his father's workplace Varanasi. His ancestral house was at Rajpur in the district of South 24 Parganas of West Bengal. He belonged to the renowned Mitra family of Konnagar (in Hooghly district, West Bengal). His father's name was Gyanendranath Mitra and his mother was Suhasini Debi. He lost his mother at an early age.

Life

Premendra Mitra was born in Varanasi, India where his father Gyanendranath Mitra was an employee of the Indian Railways and because of that he had the opportunity to travel to many places in India. Having lost his mother, who died during his childhood, he was brought up by his grandparents in Uttar Pradesh and spent his later life in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Dhaka. He was a student of South Suburban School (Main) and enrolled for a BA at the Scottish Church College in Calcutta which he left prematurely to study agriculture in Santiniketan with a friend of Rabindranath Tagore, Leonard Elmhirst. Because it did not hold his interest, he returned to education first on an undergraduate course in Dhaka and in 1925 at Asutosh College in Calcutta where he assisted the research of Dinesh Chandra Sen. In particular, his creation of the character of GhanaDa [ঘনাদা] (meaning: 'Elder brother Ghana' in Bengali) won him public recognition.

Poems

Short story collections

Bengali

English

(Not actually written by him, later translated)

For children

Rhymes

Fairy tales, ghost stories and teenager stories

Ghost stories

Fun stories

Science fictions

He was among the pioneers of Bengali science fiction. He started writing science fictions to make children and preteens familiar with science.

Novels

Characters

Ghanada

Ghanada (Original name: Ghanashyam Das) is a middle-aged resident of a mess at 72, Banamali Naskar Lane in Kolkata, West Bengal with the four young members Shibu, Shishir, Gour and Sudhir (the narrator of the stories). He claims himself to be full of thrilling experience all over the globe (and, even in Mars!) to tackle conspiracies. Also, some of the stories are about Ganado (Original name: Ghonoram Das [ঘনরাম দাস]) in South America, and Bachanram Das [বচনরাম দাস] in Agra at Medieval India, his ancestors. First Ghanada story was মশা (The Mosquito) published in 1945.

Mamababu

Mamababu (Maternal Uncle) lived in Burma on account of his service. Original name of this middle-aged man is never stated. His expeditions are written in many novels and short-stories, such as: This character inspired Sunil Gangopadhyay to write his famous Kakababu series.

Parashor Barma

Parashor Barma is a detective but he tries to be a poet. First Parashor story is Goyenda Kobi Parashor [গোয়েন্দা কবি পরাশর] (Detective Poet Parashor) in 1932. Some other stories are: Two Ghanada tales also include Parashar Barma : Parasharey Ghanaday and Ghanada Phirlen.

Mejokorta

Mejokorta is a ghost-hunter. Books featuring Mejokorta are collected in an anthology named Bhoot Shikari Mejokorta Ebong...

Publishers of Mitra's writings

Leela Majumdar translated several Ghanada tales in a volume called Adventures of Ghanada. The latest English translation of his Ghanada stories (Mosquito and Other Stories) was published by Penguin Books India in 2004.

Filmography

Direction

Story, screenplay, lyrics and dialogues