Pritish Nandy

Pritish Nandy (15 January 1951 – 8 January 2025) was an Indian poet, painter, journalist, politician, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, television and streaming content. He was a parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, elected on a ticket from the Shiv Sena. He authored forty books of poetry in English and translated poems by other writers from Bengali, Urdu and Punjabi into English as well as a new version of the Isha Upanishad. Apart from these, he authored books of stories and non fiction as well as three books of translations of classical love poetry from Sanskrit. He was the Publishing Director of The Times of India Group between 1982 and 1991, and also served as editor for The Illustrated Weekly of India, The Independent, and Filmfare. He held six exhibitions of his paintings and calligraphy. He founded Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, the content company, in 1993. He also founded People for Animals, India's first animal rights NGO with Maneka Gandhi.

Background Pritish Nandy was born in Bhagalpur in the state of Bihar in eastern India to a Bengali family, self-identifying as an agnostic. He was the son of Satish Chandra Nandy and Prafulla Nalini Nandy, and brother of Ashis Nandy and Manish Nandy. He had three children with his wife Rina Pritish Nandy. His daughters Rangita Nandy (born 1978) and Ishita Pritish-Nandy (born 1980) are film producers, creators and show runners and his son Kushan Nandy (born 1972) is a film producer, writer and director. Pritish Nandy was educated at La Martiniere College and, briefly, at Presidency College in Kolkata, where he spent the first 28 years of his life. Nandy died at his Mumbai home, on 8 January 2025, at the age of 73.

Literary career Pritish 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. During the seventies Nandy edited and published a poetry magazine called Dialogue which published many of India's finest poets in English and other languages, in translation. Dialogue also published over forty books of poems, of first time poets as well as famous poets. It became an iconic platform for contemporary Indian poetry, in English and in translation. 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. Nandy's poem Calcutta If You Must Exile Me is considered a pioneering classic in modern Indian literature.

The Government of India conferred on him the Padma Shri in 1977 for his contribution to Indian literature. He wrote a new book of poems called “Again” in 2010 after a long hiatus and then, “Stuck on 1/Forty" in 2012. In 2014, his version of the Isha Upanishad was published.

Journalistic career He was the publishing director of The Times of India between 1982 and 1991. He was also managing editor of the group and editor and publisher of The Illustrated Weekly of India during its most successful decade. He was also editor and publisher of ‘’The Independent’’, a newspaper launched by the same group and ‘’Filmfare’’ the popular magazine.

Nandy left The Times of India group to start his own media company Pritish Nandy Communications which was founded in 1993. He was chairman of Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, popularly known as PNC and well known for its films, TV shows, and streaming content.

He was also a columnist with The Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar and Sangbad Pratidin. His regular column appeared in ‘’Mumbai Mirror’’ and his blog on Times Online.

On 28 November 2012, Nandy founded World Compassion Day, a platform for promoting the values of compassion and ahimsa, and the first lecture on the occasion was delivered in Mumbai by the 14th Dalai Lama who spoke on the ethical treatment of animals.

Film and television Nandy founded Pritish Nandy Communications in 1993 and remained its non-executive chairman and creative mentor. The company's first programme was a chat show titled The Pritish Nandy Show which aired on Doordarshan, India's public broadcasting channel. This was the first signature show on Indian television. This was followed by Fiscal Fitness: The Pritish Nandy Business Show, India's first weekly business show, on Zee TV.

Nandy presented over 500 news and current affairs shows on Doordarshan, Zee TV and Sony TV. Raj Kahani – A costume drama on Doordarshan. Starring R Madhavan in a double role. Directed by Kushan Nandy. Khwahish – A behind-the-scenes look at the big bad world of fashion on Sony Television. Starring Annie Thomas. Directed by Manu Gargi. Yudh – A daily soap opera on Doordarshan, Sun, Udaya and Jain TV. Starring Mahavir Bhullar and Lalit Tiwari. Directed by Kushan Nandy. Sanjog – A daily show based on the story of an ideal Indian family. This serial crossed 250 episodes on Doordarshan National. Starring Amar Talwar, Anjana Mumtaz, Aamir Ali Malik, etc. Directed by Ajeet Kumar. India−The Awakening – A daily show profiling achievers on Doordarshan. Hosted by Pritish Nandy. Directed by different directors. Hungama Unlimited – A sitcom that lists the best of Hindi films and pop music. Also a countdown show to hit the number one position on Doordarshan Metro in terms of viewership ratings. Directed by different directors. Heads & Tails – An animal rights show on Doordarshan. Hosted by Maneka Gandhi. Directed by Umesh Agarwal. Won the RAPA Award and was nominated for the Screen Videocon and Pinnacle Awards. Entertainment Now – A daily entertainment news show on Doordarshan. Hosted by Sagarika Sonie. Directed by Subir Dhar and Amitabh Tripathi. Chup Bas Lakshya – PNC's foray into regional Marathi television on Doordarshan Sahyadri. Starring Laxmikant Berde. Directed by Bhaskar Jadhav. New Horizons – An alternative lifestyle show on Doordarshan and Zee TV Network. Hosted by Maneka Gandhi. Won a Screen Videocon Award. Fiscal Fitness: The Pritish Nandy Business Show – A business show on Zee TV Network. Directed by Umesh Agarwal. Four More Shots Please! – An Amazon Original on Prime Video. Created by Rangita Pritish-Nandy. Produced by Pritish Nandy. Won an International Emmy nomination. Rat-a-tat in Unpaused – An Amazon Original anthology on Prime Video. Produced by Pritish Nandy and Rangita Pritish Nandy Modern Love Mumbai – An Amazon Original on Prime Video featuring six films. Produced by Pritish Nandy. The Royals - A Netflix Original on Netflix. Created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy. Produced by Pritish Nandy.

Films

Awards Padma Shri 1977 received from the President of India Karmaveer Puraskaar 2008 International Humanitarian Award at the Genesis Awards 2012 in Hollywood, organised by the Humane Society of the United States. Bangladesh Liberation War Award received from the Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Selected works

Books of poems Of Gods & Olives (Calcutta/ Mexico City, 1967) 32pp, Writers' Workshop On Either Side of Arrogance (Calcutta, 1968) 32pp, Writers' Workshop I Hand You in Turn My Nebbuk Wreath (Calcutta, 1968) 16pp, Dialogue/ Writers' Workshop From the Outer Bank of the Brahmaputra (New York, 1969) 38pp, New Rivers Press Masks to be Interpreted in Terms of Messages (Calcutta, 1971) 48pp, Writers' Workshop Madness is the Second Stroke (Calcutta, 1972) 56pp, Dialogue The Poetry of Pritish Nandy: Collected Poems (New Delhi, 1973) Riding the Midnight River: Selected Poems (New Delhi/ London, 1974) 144pp, Arnold Heinemann Dhritarashtra Downtown: Zero (Calcutta, 1974) Lonesong Street (Calcutta, 1975) 32pp, Poets Press In Secret Anarchy (Calcutta, 1976) 38pp, United Writers The Nowhere Man (Calcutta, 1976) 32pp, Arnold Heinemann A Stranger Called I (Calcutta, 1976) 48pp, Kavita/Arnold Heinemann Tonight, This Savage Rite/ With Kamala Das (New Delhi, 1977) 55pp, Arnold Heinemann Anywhere is Another Place (Calcutta, 1979) 48pp, Arnold Heinemann Pritish Nandy 30 (Calcutta, 1980) 30pp, Kavita/Arnold Heinemann The Rainbow Last Night (New Delhi, 1981) 48pp, Arnold Heinemann Again (New Delhi, 2010) 104pp, Rupa Publications Stuck on 1/Forty (New Delhi, 2012) 124pp, Amaryllis Tonight, This Savage Rite (New Delhi, 2014) 124pp HarperCollins

Book of interviews Peerless Minds: A Celebration Interviews with Thirty Incredible Indians (New Delhi, 2019) 400pp, HarperCollins, also a Special Collectors Edition limited to 500 copies

Verse play Rites for a Plebeian Statue (Calcutta, 1970), Writers Workshop, India.

Short stories Some Friends (New Delhi, 1979), Arnold Heinemann

Translations The Complete Poems of Samar Sen (Calcutta, 1970) 192pp, Writers Workshop Subhas Mukhopadhyay: Poet of the People (Calcutta, 1970) 24pp, Dialogue Poems from Bangladesh (Calcutta, 1971) Dialogue The Prose Poems of Lokenath Bhattacharya (Calcutta, 1971) Dialogue Bangladesh: Voice of a New Nation (Calcutta/ London/ New York, 1972) Shesh Lekha: The Last Poems of Rabindranath Tagore (Calcutta, 1973) Dialogue Modern Bengali Poetry (Chicago, 1974) Mahfil, University of Chicago The Flaming Giraffe: Poems by Sunil Gangopadhyay (Calcutta, 1975) Dialogue Songs of Mirabai with drawings by Rabin Mondal (New Delhi, 1975) Vikas Publishing The Poetry of Kaifi Azmi (Calcutta, 1975) 32pp, Poets Press/Arnold Heinemann Krishna, Krishna: Poems by Kabir (New Delhi, 1976) Vikas Publishing The Lord is my Shepherd (New Delhi, 1982) Vikas Publishing Untamed Heart: Poems by Bhartrhari with drawings by Samir Mondal (New Delhi, 1994) Rupa Publications Unchained Melody: Poems by Amaru with drawings by Samir Mondal (New Delhi, 1994) Rupa Publications Careless Whispers: Sanskrit Love Poetry with drawings by M.F Husain (New Delhi, 1994) Rupa Publications The Isha Upanishad: illustrated by Sunandini Banerjee (Calcutta, 2013) Seagull Books

Poetry recordings Lonesong Street, with Ananda Shankar (EMI, 1977) Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, with Shantanu Moitra (Virgin, 2004)

Bengali translation Pritish Nandyr Kobita translated by Amarendra Chakravarti (Calcutta, 1975) Pritish Nandyr Kobita translated by Shakti Chattopadhyay (Calcutta, 1978)

Anthologies edited Indian Poetry in English: 1947–1972 (Calcutta, 1972) Oxford & IBH Indian Poetry in English Today (New Delhi, 1973) Modern Indian Poetry (New Delhi/ London, 1974) Modern Indian Love Poetry (New Delhi, 1974) Vikas Publishing Modern Indian Love Stories (New Delhi, 1974) Vikas Publishing Strangertime (New Delhi, 1976) Sterling Publishers

Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta