Subodh Ghosh

Subodh Ghosh ( _bn. সুবোধ ঘোষ) (1909-1980) was a noted Bengali author. His "Bharat Premkatha" has remained a sensation. Many of his stories have gone into the making of great films and even today filmmakers search his works for suitable plots.

Life

Born at Hazaribagh, he studied in St. Columba’s College and in the library of the well known philosopher and scholar, Mahesh Chandra Ghosh. Vastly learned in many subjects, he started his working life as a bus conductor, later worked as a clown in a circus and as a sweeper in Mumbai Municipal Corporation. He travelled to East Africa to work as a contractor’s worker. He was imprisoned for participating in the freedom movement. He accompanied Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to riot-torn Noakhali on the eve of independence and visited the North East Frontier Agency as a correspondent during and after the war with China.

In the late thirties, he joined the Ananda Bazar Patrika at Kolkata. He rose to be the Senior Editor of the Sunday Magazine section and was a regular editorial writer. The University of Calcutta honoured him with the prestigious Jagattarini Gold Medal.

Literature

He shot into prominence with such stories as "Fossil". Thereafter, he went on to produce a rich harvest of varied stories. While his "Bharat Premkatha" delves into the classics for both form and content, presenting immortal love stories, his "Kingbadantir Deshe" is composed of local legends, which are believed to have really taken place in the past, and which gained in popularity through oral transmission. His personal knowledge about and deep insight into Adivasi life and his grounding in military history was always well respected.

Pradip Bhattacharya has translated, or rather transcreated "Bharat Premkatha" into English as "Love Stories from the Mahabharata". Subodh Ghosh’s "House Combustible" (English translation of "Jatugriho") finds a place in "Indian Love Stories" edited by Sudhir Kakar.

Works

His literary works were included in the curriculum of school level, secondary, higher secondary and graduation level Bengali Literature in Bangladesh.

Novels

*"Tilanjoli"
*"Gangotri"
*"Trijama"
*"Preyoahy"
*"Satkiya"
*"Sujata"
*"Suno Boronari"
*"Bosonto Tilok"
*"Jiavorli"
*"Bagdatta"

Story-Book

*"Fossil"
*"Porshuramer Kuthar"
*"Suklavishar"
*"Gram Jamuna"
*"Bonikornika"
*"Jatugriho"
*"Mon Vramar"
*"Thirbijuri"
*"Kusumeshu"
*"Bharat Premkatha"

Others

*"Bharityo Foujer Itihash"
*"Kingbodontir Deshe"
*"Amritopothojatri"

tories for films

While Subodh Ghosh was immensely popular with Bengali readers, he was to a large extent unknown as a writer to the outside world. Films gave him a break through to the vast Hindi-speaking world. His stories have been used for Hindi films as much as for Bengali films.

Following on his critically successful 1944 debut "Udayer Pathey", Bimal Roy shot "Anjangarh" in 1948, based on Subodh Ghosh’s political drama about collusion of aristocracy and business interests against the common man. Mrinal Sen’s 1971 film "Ek Adhuri Kahani", based on a Subodh Ghosh story, tells the story of a sugar mill and its agricultural neighbourhood where the workers are deprived of bare necessities and the farmers cheated. Tapan Sinha picked up Subodh Ghosh’s "Jatugriha" for a film on the same name.

Subodh Ghosh shot into limelight as the author whose work inspired classic films as Ritwik Ghatak’s "Ajantrik" and Bimal Roy’s Sujata. While "Sujata" was the story of romance between a Brahmin young man and an outcaste woman, "Ajantrik" was the story of a taxi driver in love with his out dated vehicle. Subodh Ghosh won the Filmfare best storywriter award for "Sujata". Both the films were made in the late fifties. Later, Subodh Ghosh won the Filmfare best storywriter award a second time, albeit posthumously, for Gulzar’s "Ijaazat", which was based on Jatugriho. The drama titled "Waiting Room" by noted Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostafa Sarwar Faruki is also based on this story. Even a recent Sooraj R. Barjatya potboiler "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun" picked up the story idea from Subodh Ghosh. Such was the vast expanse of his writing.

References

*Golpo Songroho (Collected Stories), the national text book of B.A. (pass and subsidiary) course of Bangladesh, published by University of Dhaka in 1979 (reprint in 1986).

*Bangla Sahitya (Bengali Literature), the national text book of intermediate (college) level of Bangladesh published in 1996 by all educational boards.