A well-known literary figure of Bengal

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer. He was also actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. His most famous creation is the fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi.Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay was born to Tarabhushan and Bijaliprabha Bandyopadhyay on 30 March 1899 at his maternal grandparents' home in Jaunpur, United Province, India.


The family hailed from Purnea, Bihar, India. He passed the matriculation examination in 1915 and took admission in Vidyasagar College, Calcutta. While studying there, he published his first work, Jaubansmriti, a collection of poems, at the age of 20. In 1919, he passed the B.A. examination. He studied law in Patna and then devoted his time to writing.

He wrote different forms of prose: novels, short stories, plays and screenplays. However, his forte was short stories and novels. He wrote historical fiction like Kaler Mandira, GourMollar (initially named as Mouri Nodir Teere), Tumi Sandhyar Megh, Tungabhadrar Teere(all novels), Chuya-Chandan, Maru O Sangha (later made into a Hindi film named Trishangni) and stories of the supernatural with the recurring character Baroda, the Ghost Hunter. Besides, he wrote many songs and poems.

Bandyopadhyay wrote short stories, historical as well as social novels, poems, songs, essays, and stage plays. He also wrote several screen plays, some of which were based on his other writings. His stories are always very short and generally have a twist ending; in this respect, he can be compared to another prominent author, Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay, also known as Bonoful. Humor, wit and satire are prevalent in his work. The main theme of most of his writings is romance. He was very selective and a perfectionist.

The first Byomkesh Bakshi work appeared in 1932. One of his earliest stories, Raktasandhya, appeared in Bengali in 1939 and was later included in The Scarlet Dusk (2003), a collection of 5 of his stories translated into English. He moved to Mumbai in 1938 to write screenplays for Bombay Talkies and other film banners. He gave up ties with the film industry in 1952, and moved to Pune, to concentrate on writing. He wrote several ghost stories, historical romances and children's stories in Bengali over the next 18 years.

Among the famous literary characters he created are  and, Boroda. Byomkesh Bakshi is a detective. He calls himself Satyanweshi or the truth-seeker. Boroda is a ghost-hunter. Like the Mejokorta of Premendra Mitra, he has direct interactions with ghosts. His Byomkesh series include Satyanweshi, Pother Kanta, Seemanto-Heera , Raktomukhi Neela, Durgo Rahasya and Shajarur Kanta etc.

His Historical and Social Fictions are Kaler Mandira, GaurMallar, Tumi Sandhyar Megh, Kumarsambhaber Kabi, Tungabhadrar Teere, Jhinder Bondi and Dadar Kirti etc. His Short stories are Jatismar, Chuya-Chandan, BishKonya, Kortar Kirti, Timingil, Toothbrush Roopkotha, Asomapto and Mukhos etc. he wrote screenplays for the cinemas like Durga, Kangan and Navjeevan etc.This great writer breathed his last on 22 September 1970.