Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was an Indian Bengali-language writer. He was actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. The creator of the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, Sharadindu composed stories of a wide array of varieties including: novels, short stories, crime and detective stories, plays and screenplays. He wrote historical fiction like Kaler Mandira, Gourmollar (initially named as Mouri Nodir Teere), Tumi Sandhyar Megh, Tungabhadrar Teere, Chuya-Chandan, Maru O Sangha (later made into a Hindi film named Trishagni), Sadashib series and stories of the unnatural with the recurring character Baroda. Besides, he composed many songs and poems.

Personal life and education

He was born to Tarabhushan and Bijaliprabha Bandyopadhyay at his maternal grandparents' home in Jaunpur, United Province, India on 30 March 1899. The Bandyopadhyay family's residence was at Purnia, Bihar, India, where his father worked but the family originally hailed from Baranagar, North Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He completed his matriculation in 1915 from a school in Munger, in Bihar. He wrote his first story 'Pretpuri', a Boroda story, when he was only 15 years. After matriculation, he joined the Vidyasagar College, Kolkata. Sisir Bhaduri, the doyen of Bengali stage, was his English professor there. After completing graduation, he went on to study law in Patna. He was only thirty years old when he gave up his practice and started working as a writer. In 1928, Himangshu Roy invited him to Bombay to write screenplays. Till 1952 he wrote films, and then settled down in Pune to pursue a full-fledged career as a writer.

Characters

Byomkesh Bakshi

Byomkesh Bakshi is a detective who calls himself Satyanweshi or the truth-seeker. He is known for his proficiency with observation, logical reasoning, and forensic science which he uses to solve complicated cases, usually murders.

Boroda

Boroda is a ghost-chaser, obsessed with life-after death and in writer's words Bhootanweshi. Like the Mejokorta of Premendra Mitra, he has direct interactions with ghosts. He recounts his many encounters with spirits much to the chagrin of his friends. In Byomkesh O Boroda, the two characters met each other. This series of short stories provide great examples of spine-chilling atmosphere and last-minute twists. The list of stories in chronological order:

Sadashib

Sadashib, or Sadashib Rao, is a fictional character of a young lad starring in a series of short stories of Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. The protagonist of the series Sadashib is a Maratha soldier hailing from the village Dongarhpur. This character was created with the backdrop of 16th century Maharashtra when the Maratha-Adil Shah-Mughal antipathy was at its pinnacle. The conflict of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Aurangzeb provided the series with its own distinctive plot.

Background

As per the pretext of the series, the Mughals were residing on Daulatabad north of Maharashtra and Sultan Adil Shah was in the charge of Bijapur fort in the south. Although at the time of the story's beginning the forces of Shivaji had not yet earned the total trust of entire mass, they were on the rise to end the daily oppression of the simple villagers and the common people in the hands of the tyrant rulers. During this time Sadashib, an orphan boy of around seventeen to eighteen was growing up in his maternal uncle's house in the village Dongarhpur with his uncle and aunt who strongly despised him. One day, his maternal uncle Sakharam decides to throw him out of his home after consulting with the villages head and other elders citing the reason that he is unable to provide sustenance to his household in the time of war and crisis. Sadashiv, who has nobody in the village to turn to leaves, but his friend Kumkum, the daughter of village elder Biththal Patil, advises him to go and join Shivaji's troops. Later, Kumkum helps him escape on the ailing horse of her father. Sadashiv sets course for Puna, but he encounters Shivaji's forces en route, eventually helps them unknowingly. They take him to Torna, where Shivaji was camping and he joins Shivaji's force and gets popular by the day on the merit of his young as well as cunning stature. In the passage of time, he becomes the go-to-man of Shivaji and helps to tide him over of different problems.

List of Stories

Source: Dey, Anindita (2021)

Characters

Incomplete Stories

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay was advised and motivated to write about Shivaji through the view of a young soldier by his friend and fellow author, Rajshekhar Basu. There were four more drafts or incomplete stories obtained from Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay's notebook, which are — It is understood that he wanted to script the entire history of Shivaji's rise to the behest of glory and success through this series, but he could not finish them due to his untimely death in 1970.

Adaptations

Byomkesh Bakshi

Sadashib

Novels

Historical Fiction

'Among contemporary writers of Bengali – nobody could write a historical fiction quite like him. Who can create that atmosphere, who else has the wit and humour…his prose had a different taste altogether – I am rather fond of it....’ that's what Sunil Gangopadhyay said about Saradindu Bandopadhyay regarding his historical novels and stories. Set in different periods of Indian history, right from the Pre-Aryan days to the Gupta, Mauryan era till the age of the Mughals – they are a unique blend of scintillating twists and turns, of romance, adventure and revenge, characters brought to life by a unique idiom and vocabulary to suit the ethos of that bygone era. Saradindu himself said – 'My stories are not fictionalised history, they are historical fiction. Since the writer spent the latter half of his life in Maharashtra, Pune and the Western Ghats form a picturesque backdrop to quite a few of his stories, many of which narrate tales of the Maratha hero, Chhatrapati Shivaji. Social: Dadar Kirti [দাদার কীর্তি]

Short stories

Collections

Filmography

Screenplay:

TV series based on his writings

Films based on his writings

Bengali

Hindi