Pritish Nandy

15 Jan, 1951 | Bhagalpur, Bihar

Producer

Biography

Pritish Nandy is a poet, painter, journalist, politician, television personality and film producer. He is a Bengali by ethnicity. He was a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament representing Maharashtrian party Shiv Sena. He has published a number of poetry books and translated poems by other writers from Bengali into English. Early Life Nandy was born in Bhagalpur in the state of Bihar in eastern India to a Bengali family. He is the son of Satish Chandra Nandy and Prafulla Nalini Nandy, and brother of Ashis Nandy. He was educated at La Martiniere College and, briefly, at Presidency College in Kolkata. Nandy's mother was a teacher at La Martiniere Calcutta and subsequently became the school's first Indian vice principal. Publishing Career Nandy's first book of poems Of gods and Olives was published in 1967. Three further volumes followed in the 1960s and a further 14 volumes were published in the 1970s. In July 1981 Nandy was nominated as a Poet Laureate by the World Academy of Arts and Culture at the Fifth World Congress of Poets in San Francisco. In 1982 Nandy became a full-time journalist. He was the publishing director of The Times of India from 1982 to 1991, and the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India from 1983 to 1991. He has also served as the editor of The Independent and Filmfare. He served concurrently as the publisher of The Illustrated Weekly of India, The Independent, Filmfare, Femina, Science Today, Dharmayug and Madhuri. He was a syndicated columnist with The Times of India and over thirty other leading Indian newspapers. Nandy opened India's first cyber cafe in 1996. Political Career Nandy was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, in July 1998 - as a representative of a Hindu nationalist party, the Shiv Sena. He was on a number of committees including the National Committee to Celebrate 50 years of Independence, the Parliamentary Committee for Defence, the Parliamentary Committee for Information and Broadcasting, and the Telephone Advisory Committee. Film And TV Career Nandy's production company Pritish Nandy Communications was founded in 1995. Its first programme was a chat show entitled the Pritish Nandy Show which aired on Doordarshan, a public broadcasting channel. The World This Week also aired on Doordarshan. This was followed by Fiscal Fitness, India's first weekly business show, on Zee TV, and The Pritish Nandy Business Show. Nandy has presented over 500 news and current affairs shows on Doordarshan, Zee TV and Sony TV.