Gita Mehta
Gita Mehta is an Indian writer and documentary filmmaker.Biography
Born in Delhi into a well-known Odia family, she is the daughter of Biju Patnaik, an Indian independence activist and a Chief Minister in post-independence Odisha, then known as Orissa. Her younger brother, Naveen Patnaik, has been the Chief Minister of Odisha since 2000. She completed her education in India and at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. She was adjudged for India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2019, which she declined for political reasons.
She has produced and/or directed 14 television documentaries for UK, European and US networks. During the years 1970–1971 she was a television war correspondent for the US television network NBC. Her film compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, Dateline Bangladesh, was shown in cinemas both in India and abroad.
She is the widow of Sonny Mehta, former head of the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house, whom she married in 1965. Her books have been translated into 21 languages and been on the bestseller lists in Europe, the US and India. Her fiction and non-fiction is exclusively focused on India: its culture and history, and the Western perception of it. Her works reflect the insight gained through her journalistic and political background.
Mehta divides her time between New York City, London and New Delhi.Works
