Pritish Nandy


Pritish Nandy is an Indian poet, painter, journalist, parliamentarian, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, TV and streaming content. He was member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament representing Maharashtra based party Shiv Sena. He is the author of forty books of poetry in English and has translated poems by other writers from Bengali and Urdu into English as well as a new version of the Isha Upanishad. Apart from these, he has authored books of stories and non fiction as well. He was publishing director of The Times of India Group and editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India and Filmfare in the 1980s. He founded Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, the content company, in 1993.

Early life

Pritish 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 and Manish Nandy. His daughters Rangita Pritish-Nandy and Ishita Pritish-Nandy are film producers, creators and show runners and his son Kushan Nandy 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's mother was a teacher at La Martiniere Calcutta and subsequently became the school's first Indian vice principal.

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. His Collected Poems are being published by Seagull Books.

Journalistic career

He was 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 left the group to start his own content company Pritish Nandy Communications which was founded in 1993. He is currently chairman of Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, popularly known as PNC. He is also a columnist with The Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar and Sangbad Pratidin. His blog appears on Times Online. Nandy was one of the first internet evangelists in India and opened India's first cyber café in 1996 at Hotel Leela Kempinski in Mumbai.

Political career

Pritish Nandy was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, in July 1998. He was a member of parliament for six years and 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 Communications, the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs. He headed the Expert Committee for upgradation of the International Film Festival of India set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and submitted its findings to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in 2011.

Humanitarian work

Pritish Nandy has worked for many causes but is best known as the founder of People for Animals, India's largest animal protection NGO that Maneka Gandhi, its co-founder, heads and runs as chairperson. He received the International Humanitarian Award at the Genesis Awards in Los Angeles in 2012, supported by the Humane Society of the United States, the largest animal protection body in the US. On 28 November 2012 Pritish 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 remains 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 has presented over 500 news and current affairs shows on Doordarshan, Zee TV and Sony TV.

Television content

FilmYearNotes
Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi2001Producer
Bollywood Calling2001Producer
The Mystic Masseur2001Producer
Sur, The Melody of Life2002Producer
Kaante2002Producer
Jhankaar Beats2003Producer
Mumbai Matinee2003Producer
Chameli2004Producer
Popcorn Khao! Mast Ho Jao2004Producer
Shabd2005Producer
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi2005Producer
Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena2005Producer
Ankahee2006Producer
Pyaar Ke Side Effects2006Producer
Bow Barracks Forever2007Producer
Just Married2007Producer
Ugly Aur Pagli2008Producer
Meerabai Not Out2008Producer
Raat Gayi Baat Gayi?2009Producer
Click2010Producer
Fatso!2012Producer
Shaadi Ke Side Effects2014Producer
Mastizaade2015producer

Awards

Books of poems